war memorial to the Canadian soldiers in World War II. At the entrance to Het Steen is a bas-relief of Semini, above the archway, around 2nd century. Semini is the Scandinavian God of youth and fertility (with symbolic phallus). A historical plaque near Het Steen explains that women of the town appealed to Semini when they desired children; the god was reviled by later religious clergy. Inhabitants of Antwerp previously referred to themselves as "children of Semini". An organization concerned with the historic preservation of Het Steen and Semini, Antwerp Komitee Semini in Ere (AKSIE), formed in 1986, holds annual celebrations at Het Steen as cultural events. At the entrance bridge to the castle is a statue of a giant and two humans. It depicts the giant Lange Wapper who used to terrorise the inhabitants of the city in medieval times. Richard Wagner's opera Lohengrin, which premiered in 1850, is set in Antwerp Castle around the year 933 under the reign of Henry the Fowler, with Elsa von Brabant as the main female protagonist and the swan knight Lohengrin, who magically appears on the river on a barge pulled by a swan when the king holds court hearing on the bank. Ludwig II of Bavaria had Neuschwanstein Castle designed by stage designers in 1869; its narrow rectangular inner courtyard is designed according to Wagner's stage directions for Antwerp Castle, with Elsa's wing on the left including the covered balcony on which she stands at the beginning of the second act. Gallery External links Steen Steen Museums in Antwerp es:Steen (Castillo)#top