What to See in Ghent - Top Sights and Attractions

Late Gothic church with rich interiors. St. Nicholas Church is one of the oldest and most prominent landmarks in Ghent, Belgium. Begun in the early 13th century as a replacement for an earlier Romanesque church, construction continued through the rest of the century in the local Scheldt Gothic style. Typical of this style is the use of blue-gray stone from the Tournai area, the single large tower above the crossing, and the slender turrets at the building's corners.

Built in the old trade center of Ghent next to the bustling Korenmarkt (Wheat Market), St. Nicholas Church was popular with the guilds whose members carried out their business nearby. The guilds had their own chapels which were added to the sides of the church in the 14th and 15th centuries.

The central tower, which was funded in part by the city, served as an observation post and carried the town bells until the neighboring belfry of Ghent was built. These two towers, along with the Saint Bavo Cathedral, still define the famous medieval skyline of the city center. One of the treasures of the church is its organ, produced by the famous French organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll.^[2]

Port operating company in Ghent, Belgium. Portus Ganda is one of the yacht moorings provided by the city of Ghent in East Flanders, Belgium. Located at Veerkaai 2 at a crossing in the old waterways of the river Leie, it opened in 2005 to create a destination for people touring the Flemish waterways by boat. The harbour master's office is located next to the new entrance of the Van Eyck swimming pool that faces the Veermanplein.

The moorings provide hookups for water and electricity. Security is low as the docks are accessible from the shore.

For people wishing to explore Gent the city centre is in walking distance from the docks and for more immediate needs there are restaurants and shopping along the Kaiser Karel Straat.

The city website provides both Contact Information for the Harbour Master (in Flemish) and tourism information (in English)^[8]

Museum in Ghent, Belgium. The Ghent City Museum is a museum in the Belgian city of Ghent. The museum exposes the city history and opened its doors on 9 October 2010. With respect to the collection that is shown, the history of this museum goes back to 1833, the year in which the Oudheidkundig Museum van de Bijloke in Ghent was founded. In 1928 the museum was situated in the Bijloke abbey - this led to the name Bijlokemuseum.

With the Bijloke collection as base and the Bijloke abbey and Bijloke monastery as buildings, the STAM functions as a modern-day heritage forum. Parts from other collections were added to the Bijloke collection. In connection to the historical buildings a new entrance building was constructed, designed by Ghent's city architect Koen Van Nieuwenhuyse.

The main circuit of the Ghent City Museum serves as a museal and multimedial introduction to a visit to the city of Ghent. The past of the town is illustrated, but also today's life and the future are discussed. The temporary STAM collections describe the phenomenon of "urbanity" by means of contemporary issues. STAM refers the visitor to the city itself and to Ghent's cultural heritage. Chronologically structured rooms invite the visitors to explore various thematics. There is also a section dedicated to the Ghent Altarpiece.

The Ghent City Museum was the winner of the 2012 Flemish Museum Prize.^[10]

Woodrow Wilsonplein is a city square in the center of Ghent, Belgium. The square is colloquially called 't Zuid, after its location just south of the historical city center and the former train station Ghent-South. It is named after Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president of the United States and first US president to pay an official state visit to Belgium.

Woodrow Wilson Square is home to Ghent's largest shopping mall Ghent South, which also serves as an office complex. On the southside of the square is the city's main administrative center, the city library and a postal office. The Capitole, Ghent's largest theater and event venue, is separated from Woodrow Wilson Square by the Graaf van Vlaanderenplein. The square borders the northside of the Zuidpark (English: South Park; not to be confused with the American adult animated series of the same name).

In May 2020 the square's zebra crossing was transformed into a Rainbow crossing in order to create awareness and acceptance of LGBT diversity.^[14]

The Koning Albertpark, also known as Zuidpark, is a city park in the Belgian city of Ghent. The park is located in the southeast of the city center, between Woodrow Wilson Square and the B401 motorway exits that terminate at Zuidpark in the city. It is a neo-baroque park, where the other parks in the city are mostly laid out in English landscape style.

After the demolition of the Gent-Zuid train station in 1928, which was replaced by the Gent-Sint-Pieters railway station, a large elongated space became available. In the 1930s, the Zuidpark was built on these former railway sites. After the death of King Albert I in 1934, it was officially called King Albert Park.

A bust of Leopold II of Belgium stood in the park for many years. It was removed in 2020, as a result of the George Floyd protests in Belgium.^[15]

Classical art museum in elegant building. The Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, Belgium, is situated at the East side of the Citadelpark.

The museum's collection consists of some 9000 artworks, dating from the middle ages to the 20th century. Over 600 works can be found on display permanently, with the collection largely focusing on Flemish Art (Southern Netherlands). It also houses several European- especially French- paintings, in addition to a large amount of sculptures.

Next to its permanent collection the museum organises temporary exhibitions. Between March 2011 and January 2021, the museum conducted 41 exhibitions.

The building was designed by city architect Charles van Rysselberghe around 1900.

In 2007 the museum reopened after four years of restoration.

The museum is a member of The Flemish Art Collection. This is a structural partnership joining the three main museums of fine arts in Flanders: Royal Museum of Fine Arts, the Groeninge Museum in Bruges and the Ghent Museum of Fine Arts. The museums’ collections have all been developed in a similar way and complement each other perfectly. Together, they offer a unique, representative overview of Flemish art from the 15th to the 20th century. As partners sharing the same responsibility in Belgian cultural heritage, the three museums exchange their expertise, they strive for a more sustainable, high quality management and international awareness of their collections, including works that are part of the world patrimony.^[17]

Opera company. The Vlaamse Opera is an opera company in Belgium directed by Jan Vandenhouwe which operates in two different opera houses in two Flemish cities, the Vlaamse Opera Antwerp at Van Ertbornstraat 8 and the Vlaamse Opera Ghent at Schouwburgstraat 3. However, the company shares one orchestra, choir, technical team, etc. The organization is mainly financed by the Flemish government and the city councils of Antwerp and Ghent.

In its current form, the company was created in 1996 as a successor to the Flemish Opera Foundation (Vlaamse Opera Stichting, which had existed since 1988), and the Opera for Flanders (Opera voor Vlaanderen, which had existed since 1981). Both former institutions were similar fusions between the former opera houses of Antwerp and Ghent. Since the fusion in 1981, the company has been giving performances in two different historic theatres.^[20]

Abbey in Ghent, Belgium. Saint Peter's Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey in Ghent, Belgium, now a museum and exhibition centre.

Saint Peter's was founded in the late 7th century by Amandus, a missionary sent by the Frankish kings to Christianize the pagan inhabitants of the region, who founded two monasteries in the area, St. Bavo's, and Saint Peter's on the Blandijnberg. During the winter of 879-80, the abbey was raided and plundered by the Normans, and it remained relatively poor until the 10th century, when donations of property and relics by Count Arnulf I considerably enriched it, as did further donations by Arnulf's cousin King Edgar of England. By the second half of the century it was the wealthiest abbey in Flanders, and the reputation of the abbey school extended far beyond the town. In 984, Gerbert of Aurillac, director of the cathedral school of Reims, (later Pope Sylvester II) inquired whether students from Reims could be admitted to Saint Peter's, and its renown as a centre of artes liberales continued into the 11th century. Saint Peter's, through its ownership of large tracts of land, also played a pioneering role in cultivation during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, transforming forests, moors and marshes into farmland. In the fifteenth century a large scale programme of construction created the abbey library and scriptorium, enlarged the refectory, and the abbey church and other buildings were considerably beautified.

Saint Peter's first decline began following the Revolt of Ghent in 1539, and by the 1560s the Low Countries were plunged in a religious crisis that resulted in an attack by iconoclasts in 1566 in which the abbey church was wrecked, the library looted, and other buildings badly damaged. The infirmary was pressed into service as a temporary home for the monks and the refectory used as a place of worship. However opposition continued and in 1578 the abbot and monks were forced to flee to Douai. The abbey buildings were sold at public auction and were partly demolished, the materials being used to construct the city walls. The abbey finally came back into the hands of the church in 1584, and it was eventually rebuilt, with a new abbey church, begun in 1629, in the Baroque style, as well as several other new builds and refurbishments. During the 18th century, the abbey was once again flourishing, as new buildings were constructed and older ones enlarged, including the conversion of the old dormitory into a library with more than ten thousand books.

However, the end was not far off, first with the Brabant Revolution of 1789–90, then the French invasion of 1793. Finally, on 1 September 1796, the Directory abolished all religious institutions. In 1798 the library was emptied and eventually taken to the University of Ghent. From 1798 the abbey church was used as a museum, but was returned to the ownership of the church in 1801 and renamed Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Sint-Pieterskerk ("Our Lady of Saint Peter's Church"). In 1810, the rest of the abbey became the property of the city of Ghent, and was partially demolished for the construction of a military barracks, which remained on the site until 1948.

Around 1950 the city launched a programme of restoration, which is still ongoing, which began with the cloister and chapter house, then the west wing, including the old refectory and kitchens. Work on the wine cellars and attics was completed in the 1970s, and in 1982 work on the abbey gardens was completed, and in 1986 the terrace. In the 1990s restoration of the refectory wing began.

The abbey is now used as a museum and exhibition centre, which in 2000 housed a major exhibition as part of the Year of Emperor Charles, and in October 2001 hosted the 88th meeting of the European Council.^[24]

Abbey in Ghent, Belgium. Saint Bavo's Abbey is a former abbey in the currently Belgian city of Ghent. It was founded in the 7th century by Saint Amand, who also founded Saint Peter's Abbey, Ghent, near the confluence of the Leie and Scheldt rivers. Originally, the abbey was also called Ganda, a name of Celtic origin, meaning "river mouth", referring to the Leie river debouching into the Scheldt river.

In the 9th century, the abbey was raided twice by Vikings, which made the monks flee to Laon. After an absence of nearly 50 years, they came back to Ghent and re-established the abbey. The German emperor Otto II saw the abbey as a strategical defense point on the Scheldt river (the former border between the Holy Roman Empire and West Francia) in his eternal conflict with Louis V of France.

Saint Bavo Church in Aardenburg, Netherlands, was founded by monks of the abbey in 959. John of Gaunt, the fourth son of Edward III of England, was born in the abbey in 1340.

In 1540 Charles V ordered the destruction of the abbey. A coercion castle, with its cannons directed at Ghent, was built on the location of the abbey.^[26]

Catholic church in Ghent, Belgium. The Basilica of Our Lady of Lourdes is a Roman Catholic church at Oostakker, near Ghent in Belgium. Built in neogothic style at the end of the XIXe century it is the most important center of marian pilgrimage in Flanders.

In 1873 the Marquise of Courtebourne-de Nédonchel had a Lourdes grotto built in the gardens of her château at Slotendries. People from Ghent and other nearby locations asked to be allowed to visit the grotto and pray there, and it was claimed that in 1875 Pieter De Rudder was miraculously healed of a compound fracture.

To accommodate the resulting increase in the number of pilgrims, a neo-Gothic church based on plans by E. Van Hoecke-Peeters (slightly modified by J. B. Bethune) was completed in 1876 and consecrated in 1877. It was entrusted to the Jesuits, to which the Marquis's late son had belonged.

In one of the towers there is a carillon made up of 49 bells, cast by the Michiels Foundries in the 1950s. The keyboard was temporarily removed during renovation works in the 1970s but has not yet been replaced to this date.^[30]