Speech opening Carta 78 2017
Ladies and Gentleman,
Dear Rotary Friends,
As President of Rotary Club Antwerpen Ring, I am honoured and proud to welcome you all on behalf of all the members of our club to this edition of the yearly Carta78–reunion in our beautifull city of Antwerp.
I would even say the most beautifull city in the world. Of course and rightly you will say: this is at least a little bit exagerated, but then you have to take into account the chauvinistic character of an Antwerp citizen. We are indeed very proud of our city, because it has a lot to give.
We are proud about the culture with the many churches and the cathedral, the city hall, the central station and the many museums the widely reknowned as well as the recently created ones.
And our famous painters: for example Pieter Paul Rubens and Antoon Van Dijck.
As well as our contemporary famous artists: the Six of Antwerp, with Dries Van Noten and Ann De Meulemeester, who created an extra attraction pole for Antwerp namely as fashion city.
On the economic part we have the Port of Antwerp: the second largest in Europe for freight traffic, but also the number 2 in the world for petrochemistry.
Add to this the leading position worldwide in the diamond sector and some pleasant side activities such as exquisite food, chocolate-factories and beer-specialities and you will hopefully understand where the chauvenism is coming from.
Is there nothing wrong about Antwerp ? Of course, so we are trying for 50 years now to complete the circular motorway around the city – without succes – and to solve the enormous daily traffic jams.
Our Comity International with Luc and Dana, Zahava and Jan has tried to compose a program for this edition to show you as much as possible of our city and I am indeed very proud of the result. I hope and think that next Sunday you will have a good overview of what this city has to offer.
We have participants from different countries here and I realised that each of the countries has a special link with this city. In order to not create any jealousy between the clubs I will try to explain the links in the different languages.
Cari amici,
Questo, lo voglio racontare solo a voi.
La nostra bella citta si chiama Antwerpen, in italiano Anversa, grazie ad un italiano, per essere piu preciso un soldato romano.
Una saga del quindicesimo secolo racconta la storia del gigante Druoon Antigoon.
Piu de duemila anni fa questo gigante abitava vicino al fiume Schelda e chiedeva un pedaggio a ogni barca che passava.
A chi non voleva pagara, Antigoon tagliava la mano.
Un bel giorna passava nella sua sua piccolo barchetta un tale Silvio Brabo, un soldato romano.
Figuratevi se voleva pagara… Antigoon gli voleva tagliare la mano, ma dopo una lotta breve il piccolo corraggioso Brabo reusci ad uccidere il gigante.
E allora Brabo taglio la mano del gigante Antigoon e la getto del fiume .
Il populo del poste, liberato del tiranno, voleva ringraziare Brabo e diede all lora piccolo cittadina al fiume il nome di Antwerpen.
Antwerpen viene dalla parole fiamminghe “hand” e “werpen” cioe “mano” e “lanciare”.
Non mi credete? Allora andate nella piazza grande, la “Grote Markt” dove potete amminare una bellisima fontana con la statua di bronzo, che raffigura proprio Brabo che lancia la mano di Antigoon.
Grazie a voi.
Dear Rotarians from UK,
We are very gratefull for your help in making one of our 2 biggest classical painters as famous as they are now through the world. It concerns Antoon Van Dyck, who completed part of his carreer at the royal court in London. And apparently his work was very appreciated because he received the title of Sir Anthony Van Dyck.
For your info: one of the finest restaurants in Antwerpen is called Sir Anthony Van Dyck and situated in the Vlaaykensgang. If you have the opportunity: ça vaut le détour both for the setting of the restaurant as for the quality of the food.
And finally a little bit of peptalk for the troops.
Beste vrienden en vriendinnen van Antwerpen Ring,
We staan voor een grote uitdaging: we moeten onze buitenlandse vrienden hier een onvergetelijke ervaring laten meemaken tijdens deze 4-daagse.
Maar als ik het programma bekijk, ben ik er vast van overtuigd dat dit gaat lukken en we wellicht aan het eind van de week een aantal ambassadeurs van Antwerpen erbij krijgen.
Dear friends,
After these few words of introducing the city of Antwerp and about the links that connects the countries and the city, it is my priviledge and an honour to declare this edition of the CARTA78 for open.
Please enjoy your stay in Antwerp.
Thank You.
