Michiel Coxcie - Painter - 1499-1592

Michiel Coxcie was a painter who lived a large part of his life in Mechelen.  He became very old and got to see most of the 16th century.  Charles V and Filip II both ordered paintings by him, including some copies of the Flemish primitives that were still popular at the time.
He settled in Mechelen in 1559, at the time the archdiocese was created in Mechelen.  His furniture was stolen during the Spanish Fury in 1572.  But he was able to get it back due to his good contacts with the authorities.

My pictures of his paintings on my Flickr page.

Links :
Wikipedia
Book of Painters by Karel van Mander in 1604

Jacob of Deventer - Mapmaker

Jacob of Deventer (1500 - 1575) was a publisher of 16th century contemporary maps.  He worked under assignment of Charles V and Filip II.  His home base was Mechelen.  As one of the first, he used trigonometry to create accurate maps, far ahead of the symbolic maps that were created in the middle ages and still used at that time.

His maps can be viewed here in great detail on the site of the Royal Library of Belgium.  Here is the map of Mechelen.

The map of Mechelen of Jacob van Deventer was referred to in (at least) two archeological investigations.  The investigations took place when there was digging within the Mechelen city walls.  The maps were then used to determine what could have been located there.  The reports can be found via this link.  Look at reports 110 and 125.

This the link to the Wikipedia entry.

Hof van Savoye

The Hof van Savoye was built for Margaret of Austria at the beginning of the 16th century.  It was one of the first Renaissance buildings in Northern Europe.  When Margaret of Austria was given a house when she became regent in 1507, it quickly became too small.  She rebuilt her house in two waves from 1507 until 1530, the year she died.  The palace was at that time the political and artistic centre of the Netherlands.  It saw all the important people of the time.

After Margaret of Austria died, the palace was used by Margaret of Hungary and briefly by Cardinal Granvelle, who became the first cardinal of the Netherlands in 1559.

The palace was the home of the Great Council from 1609 until 1795.

The palace has a beautiful courtyard that is normally closed.  It currently houses the court of appeal.

My pictures of the Hof of Savoye can found at my Flickr page.

Excellent detail about the palace can be found in Dutch on the Heritage Inventory website.