Je bent hier: Info in English
Het Roze Huis' (The Pink House) is Antwerp's splendid gay and lesbian community house. Antwerp is Belgium's second biggest city and is definitely worthwile a visit. The volunteers behind the project started their efforts to create the house in 1994. After a very long struggle, they succeeded in opening ‘Het Roze Huis' in September 2000. The opening weekend was a big hit!
Since the opening, many gays, lesbians, bisexuals and other people have already visited the house, which is located at the Draakplaats (Dragon Square) 1, B-2018 Antwerp, in the charming Zurenborg neighbourhood. Closeby, you will find the Cogels-Osylei, an inspiring street full of architectural (art nouveau) wonders, which is visited by hords of tourists. From Antwerpen-Berchem train station, it only takes a 10 to 15 minutes' walk to ‘Het Roze Huis'.
On the ground floor, we run our café, called ‘Den Draak' (The Dragon). The infrastructure on the first floor is used by all kinds of gay and lesbian groups and initiatives. For the second floor, we still need money and materials in order to renovate it. Together with our sister project ‘Villa Lila' in Nijmegen (the Netherlands), other ‘pink houses' in Flanders and similar projects in other European countries, we hope to build some kind of ‘network' and exchange ideas and maybe once even volunteers.
Since June 8th 2002, the non-profit and volunteer organization is officially called Het Roze Huis – Antwerpse Regenboogkoepel. The first part of the name indicates we are running and developing Het Roze Huis, the beautiful GLBT community house in the city of Antwerp. The second part refers to the fact we now are the official representative of most GLBT associations in the whole province of Antwerp. This way we hope to strengthen the spirit of collaboration and togetherness amongst all GLBT groups in the city and province of Antwerp.
Het Roze Huis-Antwerpse Regenboogkoepel
Het Roze Huis & Café Den Draak
Draakplaats 1
B-2018 Antwerpen
(Zurenborg district)
Why would you want to visit Antwerp?
1. Antwerp played a major role throughout European history.
2. It is a big city, but has a very human size – many visitors will agree with this.
3. Public transports are excellent and not that expensive.
4. The city centre is very attractive and cosy, filled with cafés and restaurants. It is also great for shopping around, something which many Belgians and Dutch will confirm.
5. Our cathedral is one of the most beautiful ones in the whole of Europe.
6. City Hall, on the Grote Markt, is also a fine example of old architecture and yet another sign of our great history.
7. Another exceptional building is our Centraal Station (Astridplein).
8. The Antwerp Zoo is internationally reknowned (next to the Centraal Station).
9. We have a very big cinema complex, Metropolis on the Noorderlaan. The UGC Cinema Complex (De Keyserlei) and the small Cartoon's cinema (Kaasstraat) also deserve a visit.
10. The river Schelde gives the city this ‘little extra' – have a walk on the promenades!
11. People looking for all kinds of culture won't be disappointed.
12. Antwerp has great museums (fine arts, Rubens house, maritime museum, Plantin-Moretus printers museum, Vleeshuis and many, many more).
13. It also has become an international fashion centre, with a famous fashion academy.
14. The city is an important international diamond trade centre.
15. It has one of Europe's biggest ports and a strong local and regional economy (extremely important for Belgium). Foreign investors have a high esteem for the Flemish because of their working spirit and their excellent language skills.
16. ‘Antwerpers' have a quite independent mind and a big heart. The city has always been a place where people from all nationalities meet. Finding your way in English or French shouldn't be any problem.
17. The scene for gays, lesbians and bisexuals wanting to enjoy themselves is quite rich (all kinds of cafés, gay-friendly restaurants, a gay and lesbian bookshop, many associations, leather & jeans bars, gay and lesbian dance parties, discotheque etcetera).
18. Antwerp is ideally located for those wanting to see also other cities in Belgium and the Netherlands. By train, it takes for example about 40 minutes to reach Brussels and about 2 hours to get to Amsterdam. If you have a car, driving to Cologne (Germany) only takes about 2,5 hours.
19. Last but not least, it is the city where you can discover and enjoy Het Roze Huis and it's Café, Den Draak – make sure to go to the Draakplaats 1, 2018 Antwerpen (tram 11).
(We could go on like this for a while… Find more on our city on www.antwerpen.be - tourist)
Belgium and Flanders
Belgium is located in the heart of Europe and is a country with a very rich and complicated history. All kinds of nations have occupied the country. Since 1830, Belgium is an independent country. We have a constitutional monarchy with a federal state structure, designed to respect the culture of all communities. The Flemish represent nearly 60 percent of all Belgians. They speak Dutch, the same language you will find in the Netherlands (the accents sound differently, but nevertheless it is the same language).
Today's Belgium and the Netherlands together are what many like to call the Low Countries. We have a big part of our history in common. Almost 40 percent of Belgians speak French. In the east of Belgium, you will find a small community of people who speak German. Brussels, the country's capital, is also the capital of the European Union and of Flanders. It is also the seat of NATO headquarters. Belgium was one of the founding fathers of the Benelux and of the European Community (now called European Union).
If you don't know any famous Belgians or Flemish, we will give you a hand. Reknowned painters like Pieter Paul Rubens, Antoon Van Dijck, Jacob Jordaens, Pieter Bruegel de Oudere, Jan Van Eyck, Paul Delvaux, James Ensor and Rik Wouters came from our part of Europe. You might also have heard from father Damian (who fought lepracy), Mercator (cartographer), Christopher Plantijn (printer) or Peter Benoit (composer). Famous Belgians from nowadays are, only to give some examples, Toots Thielemans (musician), Dirk Frimout (astronaut), Jan Decleir (actor), Jean-Claude Van Damme (actor), Jean-Marie Pfaff (former goal keeper) and Eddy Merckx (a true champion with his bike). And you probably also know great tennis players like Kim Clijsters, Justine Hénin and Xavier Malisse. Or the famous chansonnier Jacques Brel, who passed away much to early. And of course, many of you will have heard of the (now openly lesbian) singer Sarah Bettens, from K's Choice. Soulsister is another band which has an international reputation.
Belgians like to eat and drink very well, which explains why they have such a rich culture when it comes to gastronomy, beers and liquors. Eating well and not very expensive should be no problem at all in our country. And our beer culture is quite unique in the world. Apart from Antwerpen (Antwerp), cities like Brussel (Brussels), Gent (Ghent), Brugge (Bruges), Liege, Mechelen, Lier, Aalst, Namur and Mons also deserve being visited. All of these cities will tell you more about our history. Belgium and Flanders, great places to discover or to get to know even better!