Antique & Vintage Postcards

A soaring Gothic spire pierces the Belgian sky above the Groenplaats as the bronze figure of the great painter Peter Paul stands sentinel below — this early-twentieth-century view of Antwerp's Cathédrale Notre-Dame and the Rubens statue captures the city's proud cultural heart before the upheavals of two World Wars transformed the square forever. Published by the well-regarded local firm N.I.G. Hermans of Antwerp (Anvers), the card is printed in rich monochrome with excellent tonal range, showing the cathedral's Brabantine Gothic tower — the tallest in the Low Countries — alongside the onion-domed building of the nearby Handschoenmarkt precinct. The back is a classic undivided-style bilingual Belgian layout printed in French and Dutch, indicating a production date almost certainly before the divided-back era began around 1905, making this a genuine "undivided back" pre-linen collectible sought by European topographic collectors.