According to legend, Antwerp used to be terrorised by Druon Antigoon, a giant who cut off the hands of captains of ships who refused to pay a toll.

One day, Silvius Brabo, a Roman captain, decided to challenge Antigoon. Brabo won the duel and cut off the giant’s hand and threw it into the River Scheldt.

In the 19th-century, the city decided to commemorate this mythical moment and commissioned this baroque monumental bronze fountain depicting the moment Brabo cast the hand into the river.