Glorious Ghent

Overview

View of the canal in Ghent Photo - Ghent, Belgium

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Ghent – or Gent in Dutch – is the capital city of the Belgian province of Oost-Vlaanderen or East Flanders. Although there had been a settlement on the city of the current city of Ghent during Roman times and before it was the founding of two abbeys in the 5th Century which established Ghent as a city. In the 12th and 13th Centuries the city had grown to be an important mercantile centre based around the wool trade. Wool was imported from England and numerous guilds were created to look after the interests of the various tradesmen involved in its production and distribution something perhaps echoed in later years when, towards the end of the 19th Century, the first Belgian Trade Union was inst...Read More

Ghent – or Gent in Dutch – is the capital city of the Belgian province of Oost-Vlaanderen or East Flanders.

Although there had been a settlement on the city of the current city of Ghent during Roman times and before it was the founding of two abbeys in the 5th Century which established Ghent as a city. In the 12th and 13th Centuries the city had grown to be an important mercantile centre based around the wool trade. Wool was imported from England and numerous guilds were created to look after the interests of the various tradesmen involved in its production and distribution something perhaps echoed in later years when, towards the end of the 19th Century, the first Belgian Trade Union was instituted in Ghent. Likewise the textile industry continued to be a major force in the city with the establishment of the cotton mills, largely due to Lieven Bauwens, a native of Ghent who smuggled the plans for a spinning mule out of England at the end of the 17th Century. Another Ghent native, Emperor Charles V, contributed to the nickname of stropdragers (rope or noose wearers) given to the citizens. As punishment for rebellion against the taxes imposed on them, 50 of the most prominent citizens were forced to parade in front of Charles V wearing a noose around their neck to show they should be hanged. Though this was not the first time such as event had happened, Philip of Burgundy also made the rulers of the city and its guilds beg for his forgiveness wearing only their underclothes with nooses round their necks as punishment for the city’s uprising in 1448.

In more recent times the city was between 1815 and 1830 part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, it was during this time that the Gent University was founded (1817) and in 1930 this became to first Belgian university of teach in the Dutch Language. In 1913 the city hosted the World Exhibition for which a new train station - Gent St. Pieter’s - was built and which still is the entry point for many visitors to this fascinating city

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Ghent city centre retains much evidence of the city’s medieval power, revealed in its architecture, and the university helps to give the city a youthful, vibrant feel. Thus for the visitor the city has an appealing mixture of attractive buildings, museums, art, canals, cafes, bars, and restaurants.

Unlike many European cities Ghent does not have a main town square or market place as a focal point, though it does have a number of attractive squares such as the Vrijdagmarket which hosts food and other markets and St. Baafsplein between the Cathedral and the Belfort. Instead there are a number of focal points and areas such as St Baafskathedral (St. Bavo’s Cathedral), along the canals, and around the Gravensteen Castle.

A relaxed few days in Ghent might start with a visit to St. Bavo’s Cathedral with its decorated side chapels and paintings including works by Reubens and the Van Eyck Brothers wonderful “Adoration of the Mystic Lamb”. The Cathedral stands opposite the Belfry where, in summer, you can make your way to the top of the tower and look out at the city stretched beneath you. Also in the basement of the Belfry is the Tourist Information Office which has maps, information and details of guided tours etc. A short stroll takes you past the impressive Stadhuis decorated with sculptured figures and just beyond that is the Vrijdagmarket and its morning market, restaurants, and bars. Be careful though as many Ghent bars, such as the excellent Het Waterhuis aan de Bierkant, stay open until the last person decides to wend their merry way home and the desire to taste just one more delicious Belgian beer may lead you astray!

However, if you do wake with a hangover then a walk by the canal, especially along the Korenlei and on the opposite side the Graslei, is a good way to clear your head or if perambulation is still a little too much for fragile heads then perhaps take a relaxing boat trip on the canal itself. The battlements of the Gravensteen provide an austere but impressive contrast to the pretty waterside walkways and provide excellent views over the city. A quieter reverie can also be had amongst the everyday social and cultural exhibits in the delightful Huis Van Aljin or “Museum of Things that Never Pass”.

Best Way To Get Around:

Being compact the centre of Ghent is easy to walk round and much of it is also pedestrianised, indeed one of Ghent’s claims is that it has the largest pedestrianised area in Europe. It’s also easy to get your bearings by keeping an eye of the three towers of the Belfry, St. Bavo’s, and St. Niklaaskerk. Or if you prefer seated exercise then you can join the many cyclists in Gerent by hiring a bike. Details of where and how to do this plus of course further details of walking tours, public transport etc., can be found at the Tourist Office in the basement of the Belfry.

There is a very good tram and bus service connecting the centre with the outlying districts and trams 1, 10, or 12 serve Gent St. Pieters station and the city centre. Gent St. Pieters is also the connecting station with other towns and cities in Belgium plus Brussels – 30 minutes away – and the Eurostar services and onward travel to Brussels airport. If you prefer to walk it takes about 15 to 20 minutes from Gent St. Pieter’s to the centre of town. The pavements along the route can be quite narrow so if you are carrying or wheeling luggage you may find it a little cumbersome at times. And of course as in most major towns and cities taxis are easy to come by. Read Less

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Restaurant Keizershof

Restaurant

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Keizershof is an agreeable, bustling restaurant overlooking the Vrijdagmarkt Square. It is a large airy place despite, like a lot of spots in Ghent, looking smaller from the outside than it actually is. The decor is modern, light yellowish walls with paintings by local artists under a very attractive wood beamed ceiling. The menu is quite small but supplemented by specials chalked onto a board. The cuisine is a mixture of Belgian and Continental, including meat, fish, pasta dishes, plus salads and desserts, main courses come with a separate helping of chips and creamy mayonnaise. The food is well cooked, the combination of flavours well thought out, and very filling. The spicy prawn start...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on March 30, 2007

Restaurant Keizershof
Vrijdagmarkt 47
Ghent, Belgium
09.223.44.46

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Gravensteen (Castle of the Counts of Flanders)

Attraction | "Gravensteen (Castle of the Counts of Flanders) - B"

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For me the highlight, literally and figuratively, of our visit to the Gravensteen were the battlements. The fact it was an incredibly windy and somewhat wet day only added to the atmosphere of them as you peered over the edge and through the wooden shuttered crenulations and imagined how it would feel to be starring at a hostile invading army. Though conversely I think I would rather be cold but fairly well protected on the battlements than staring up at them contemplating how you were going to attack them while avoiding the threat of arrows, missiles, and boiling oil coming over their lip.The battlements give fantastic views over the city with great photo opportunities even on the rather dull...Read More

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on March 28, 2007

Gravensteen (Castle of the Counts of Flanders)
Sint-veerleplein 11
Ghent, Belgium

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Gravensteen (Castle of the Counts of Flanders)

Attraction | "Gravensteen (Castle of the Counts of Flanders) - H"

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The Gravensteen – or Castle of the Counts – is an imposing 12th Century fortress in the centre of the city. Built on the site of early wooden castles, its main purpose has over the centuries been connected to the maintenance of law and order.Fillips of Alsasse, Count of Flanders between 1157 and 1191, began construction of the present Gravensteen in approximately 1177. The Counts needed to travel round the country in order to assert their authority and maintain law and order. Castles were therefore built in all major cities in order to accommodate them on this circuit. The Gravensteen is the only one of these which still survives. In the 14th Century the Counts abandoned the castles and over t...Read More

The Gravensteen – or Castle of the Counts – is an imposing 12th Century fortress in the centre of the city. Built on the site of early wooden castles, its main purpose has over the centuries been connected to the maintenance of law and order.

Fillips of Alsasse, Count of Flanders between 1157 and 1191, began construction of the present Gravensteen in approximately 1177. The Counts needed to travel round the country in order to assert their authority and maintain law and order. Castles were therefore built in all major cities in order to accommodate them on this circuit. The Gravensteen is the only one of these which still survives. In the 14th Century the Counts abandoned the castles and over the intervening years the Gravensteen was used as a prison, courthouse, mint, and even a cotton factory. By the late 19th century it had fallen into disrepair with much of its stonework crumbling or taken away to build other structures, indeed one of the castle rooms contain some very interesting photographs of the castle at this period including one where houses have been built flush against the castle walls. These can be compared with later photos of the castle after some reconstructive work and, of course, how it looks today. From the end of the 19th century the city began a restoration project and gradually the castle was rebuilt until it resembles its originally structure and now functions as a museum.

On a tour of the castle you follow a numbered route leading you through various rooms and onto the battlements. Each room/area contains a wall plaque in Flemish, English, and French giving information about the room you are in. There are some fine vaulted ceilings, brick fireplaces and stone columns. Having just taken part in a play set in Knaresborough castle during 1171 (“Four Knights in Knaresborough” by Paul Webb) we were able to relate rooms of the Gravensteen to scenes in the play and it was quite joyous imaging that this was the sort of fireplace Steve’s character would warm himself at or a spiral stone staircase such as my character would climb with wood and food. Or, for anyone who knows the play, the wonder of an outside battlement latrine!

One room contains some quite fearsome looking weaponry and armour and in other a gruesome array of torture implements. The latter really do prey on your mind when, towards the end of the tour, you stand in a cellar where such instruments were used and image the suffering that took place. Likewise standing in front of a reconstructed guillotine, a feature of another room, provokes feelings of both revulsion and fascination as you marvel at the bleakly practical efficiency of such a killing machine. Read Less

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on March 28, 2007

Gravensteen (Castle of the Counts of Flanders)
Sint-veerleplein 11
Ghent, Belgium

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Alijnhuis

Attraction

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This wonderful museum of social/cultural history or “Museum of Things that Never Pass” is situated in a group of attractive 14th Century almshouses surrounding a lovely courtyard. The first few rooms look at subjects such as birth, marriage, education, and death in the late 19th/early 20th centuries exploring the rituals surrounding them and, in particular, the religious attitudes prevalent at the time, the latter touching on such themes as sexuality and the place of women in society. There are detailed information sheets in each room, available in a number of languages, and though the exhibits themselves are not labelled in English this really doesn’t matter as the information sheets give suc...Read More

This wonderful museum of social/cultural history or “Museum of Things that Never Pass” is situated in a group of attractive 14th Century almshouses surrounding a lovely courtyard.

The first few rooms look at subjects such as birth, marriage, education, and death in the late 19th/early 20th centuries exploring the rituals surrounding them and, in particular, the religious attitudes prevalent at the time, the latter touching on such themes as sexuality and the place of women in society. There are detailed information sheets in each room, available in a number of languages, and though the exhibits themselves are not labelled in English this really doesn’t matter as the information sheets give such good background information. The next rooms look at more communal aspects of society such as café culture, sport, and entertainment. Exhibits include costumes, toys, household items, musical instruments, photographs, and posters, plus some very individual objects such as talismans given to pregnant women and nursing Mothers to protect themselves and their children at a time when birth was a dangerous procedure and early infancy a difficult time.

Across the courtyard rooms traditional shops such as the pharmacy, barber shop, bakery and, our favourite, the sweet shop are reconstructed. The latter, with a little booklet describing the different styles of traditional sweets made in Belgian, their names and significance – many of which are still made and can be seen on sale in the chocolate shops outside – took me back to my own childhood of ‘penny bits’ and the excitement of jars and jars of colourful, tempting boiled sweets, and candies.

In the latter part of the museum are rooms decorated in the style of 1950s to 1970s with, again, a selection of household items, toys, etc. of the period. There was great excitement when one of the display cases was found to contain original Star Wars Trading Cards and I also felt quite wistful gazing on the same kind of plate-warmer I remember gracing our dinner tables in the early '70s. There are also a room of wonderful home movies on a variety of subjects such as weddings, days out, conformations, meals, etc. acting as a kind of moving commentary on what you’ve seen before.

The museum reminded me a lot of another museum of social history, the Castle Museum in York, and like that museum I found myself fascinated by the ordinary yet remarkable minutiae of everyday life, how some of it changes and some remains the same as the years pass. Read Less

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on March 28, 2007

Alijnhuis
Kraanlei 65
Ghent, Belgium

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Saint Bavo Cathedral, Sint-Baafskathedraal

Attraction | "Sint-Baafskathedraal - Adoration of the Mustic Lamb"

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Displayed in one of the side chapels near to the entrance in St. Bavo’s Cathedral (Sint-Baafskathedraal) Jan and Hubert Van Eyck’s magnificent polyptych “The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb” is a wonderful example of early Renaissance art.The painting was commissioned in 1420 by wealthy merchant Joost Vijd and his wife Elisabeth Borluut to be placed in their private chapel. It was completed in 1432, during the week the panels were closed to show the outside paintings, the annunciation of Mary and portraits of Joost Vijd and his wife. On Sundays and Religious holidays the panels were opened so the inside pictures could be viewed. From its inauguration the painting has attracted visitors though not...Read More

Displayed in one of the side chapels near to the entrance in St. Bavo’s Cathedral (Sint-Baafskathedraal) Jan and Hubert Van Eyck’s magnificent polyptych “The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb” is a wonderful example of early Renaissance art.

The painting was commissioned in 1420 by wealthy merchant Joost Vijd and his wife Elisabeth Borluut to be placed in their private chapel. It was completed in 1432, during the week the panels were closed to show the outside paintings, the annunciation of Mary and portraits of Joost Vijd and his wife. On Sundays and Religious holidays the panels were opened so the inside pictures could be viewed. From its inauguration the painting has attracted visitors though not all such attentions have been friendly.

Towards the end of the 16th Century Protestants wished to burn the picture, at the end of the 17th Century parts of it were removed to France and only returned after the defeat of Napoleon and in the early 19th Century the panels depicting the naked Adam and Eve were considered too shocking and replaced with ones in which the figures were clothed. By 1920 all panels were back in their original state and setting, however, in 1934 the lower left hand panel called The Last (or Just) Judges was stolen and has never been recovered. A 1945 reproduction of the panel by Jef Vanderveken replaces this. The painting is no longer in the Vijd chapel, though there is a reproduction placed in there to give a sense of how the chapel would have looked with the painting in situ.

The small entrance fee to see the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb includes a long but interesting audio guide which takes you through the various panels explaining both the techniques used by the artists and the iconography of the art. For instance in the top centre panel the image can be identified as both Jesus and God as the panel contains elements characteristic to both and in the lower panel where the Holy Spirit, symbolised by a dove, hovers of the Lamb of God, it is possible to recognise individuals i.e. saints, by what they are wearing and carrying.

There is so much details in the painting it is quite astounding for instance the representation of the vegetation is so precise botanists have been able to identify over 40 different species. However, the audio guide allows you to focus in on certain aspects. In the panels depicting singing angels art historians have been able to deduce what note each angels is singing by studying the shape of their mouth and you notice how it appears as Adam is stepping out of the painting.

It is a captivating work of art which demands and keeps your attention and sitting in the chapel with just the low susurration of the audio guides as background is a very comforting experience. Read Less

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on March 28, 2007

Saint Bavo Cathedral, Sint-Baafskathedraal
Sint-baafsplein (st. Bavo's Square)
Ghent, Belgium

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Saint Bavo Cathedral, Sint-Baafskathedraal

Attraction | "Sint-Baafskathedraal"

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The imposing cathedral of St. Bavo’s (Sint-Baafskathedraal) with its square tower topped with four small spires is a recognisable silhouette on the skyline of Ghent.There has been a church on the site of St. Bavo’s Cathedral since 942, originally dedicated to St. John. This was replaced in 1038 and then, in the latter half of the 13th Century, construction began on a bigger Gothic inspired building. However it was not until 200 years later – on 7th June 1569 – that the church was consecrated. During that time the Abbey of St. Bavo’s had been closed and the canons moved to St. John’s Church, renaming it St. Bavo’s Cathedral. St Bavo had been a 7th century nobleman, dissolute in his youth, who u...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on March 28, 2007

Saint Bavo Cathedral, Sint-Baafskathedraal
Sint-baafsplein (st. Bavo's Square)
Ghent, Belgium

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Het Waterhuis Aan De Bierkant

Attraction

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Ghent has a wealth of fantastic bars but Het Waterhuis aan de Bierkant must be one of the best of them.It has an enviable position overlooking the canal and serves a wide range of bottled and draft beers, including one the name of which I sadly can’t remember (we started the evening faithfully writing down the names of the beers plus tasting notes, we ended it merely saying “Cheers!” followed by a contended “Aaah” as the first sip went down!) but which is only available at Het Waterhuis. It’s a lively place, busy which means you may have to wait to get a seat but well worth the wait as, apart from the great selection of beer and convivial atmosphere, you never know what conversations y...Read More

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on March 28, 2007

Het Waterhuis Aan De Bierkant
Groentenmarkt 9
Ghent, Belgium
09 225 06 80

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Cafe den Turk

Attraction

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Café den Turk at Botermarkt 3 is situated only a short stroll, or stumble depending on whether you are on your way to or have already sampled a few Belgian beers, away from St. Bavo’s Cathedral and the Belfort in central Ghent.From the outside it looks as if it is going to be a small, intimate bar but inside it is deceptively spacious with an L shaped bar area at the front and a number of nook and cranny rooms at the back. It does, however, retain an intimate yet convivial atmosphere, emphasised by the pleasant jazz and blues music playing in the background, at a volume that compliments rather than drowns out conversation.The decor is brown and cream walls with dark panelling ornamente...Read More

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on March 29, 2007

Cafe den Turk
Botermarkt 3
Ghent, Belgium

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Ghent Journals

Glorious Ghent

Glorious Ghent

Quick Tips:

Best Way To Get Around:

Restaurant Keizershof

Gravensteen (Castle of the Counts of Flanders)

Gravensteen (Castle of the Counts of Flanders)

Alijnhuis

Saint Bavo Cathedral, Sint-Baafskathedraal

Saint Bavo Cathedral, Sint-Baafskathedraal

Het Waterhuis Aan De Bierkant

Cafe den Turk

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