Following extensive restoration, the building is now part of a multipurpose events venue known as the Antwerp Trade Fair.

As Antwerp took over the role of trade center from Bruges, it grew into a large metropolis with more than 100,000 inhabitants, including 10,000 foreign merchants, mostly Spaniards and Portuguese.

From 1531 the old bourse was given a new building, conceived as a rectangular square with galleries covered on four sides, built on top of a street intersection.

For half a century this exchange would be the focal point of European trade and the model for cities with similar ambitions.

On the initiative of Thomas Gresham, the representative of the English crown in Antwerp, the Royal Exchange, London was opened in 1565 on this model.

[5] The gallery concept of this building served as a model for London's Royal Exchange (designed by Hendrik van Paesschen), as well as for Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Lille.

After a second fire on 2 August 1858 had once again destroyed the building, the Antwerp city authorities twice organized a design competition in which the old concept had to be preserved.

In April 2015, the province confirmed the building permit on the condition of a few adjustments to meet the concerns of local residents.

[13] After a long and intensive renovation, it was reopened in October 2019 as an events venue (Antwerp Trade Fair) with restaurant, hotel and public passage.