As an introduction to the Erasmus+ project on Jakob Fugger, the pupils of 5ECMTb-LMT visited the exhibition «Komt een Italiaan naar de Nederlanden» (An Italian comes to the Netherlands) in the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp on Tuesday 1 February. Based on quotations from Lodovico Guicciardini in his 16th century bestseller «Descrittione di tutti i Paesi Bassi» (1567), the pupils were introduced to the economy, politics, language, fauna, flora and national character of the Netherlands of that time. He devotes a striking amount of attention to his home town of Antwerp, at that time the economic heart of Europe. He writes, among other things
- “The city was largely based on trade and became large thanks to foreigners.”
- “The most important merchants from Europe and the world come here daily by land and sea.”
- “Antwerp owes its wealth to its foreign merchants. Truly everything is for sale in the city.”
No wonder Jakob Fugger also had a branch here…
