KMSKA LATE - The Spanish Fury, the story told 450 years later

On 4 November 1576, mutinous Spanish troops sacked Antwerp. Thousands of residents were killed, hundreds of houses went up in flames, and the city, then one of the richest in Europe, lost much of its splendour. Exactly 450 years later, we commemorate that event at the very spot where its impact can still be felt: before The Spanish Fury at the KMSKA.

What do you do when you grow up amid civil war? How do you experience a conflict in which your city is brutally plundered? In Uprising and Upheaval: Antwerp, the Netherlands and the World through the Eyes of Adriaan van Meerbeeck, Joost Van Meerbeeck and Bram De Ridder explore the life of an ordinary Antwerp resident during the Eighty Years’ War. Through the experiences of Adriaan van Meerbeeck, an eyewitness to the Iconoclastic Fury, the Spanish Fury and the Fall of Antwerp, his namesake and possible relative Joost sheds light on what this turbulent period meant for the city and its inhabitants.

Jeroen Olyslaegers then reads from his novel Wildevrouw, bringing the horrors of that November night vividly back to life through literary imagination.

To mark the 450th anniversary of the Spanish Fury, three authors offer fresh perspectives on this pivotal event from both historical and literary angles.

Exclusive Signing Session

Following the lecture, books will be available for purchase, followed by a signing session.

• From 8pm to 9pm
• While supplies last