Famous Landmarks in Ghent
A medieval river city preserved less by design than by three centuries of decline.
Ghent grew at the confluence of the Scheldt and the Leie, and its wealth in the Late Middle Ages — one of the richest cities in northern Europe by 1300 — paid for a dense cluster of stone towers around the old trade centre. Three of them, the Belfry, Saint Bavo's Cathedral and Saint Nicholas' Church, still define the skyline in a tight line above the rooftops, raised over the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries in Gothic, Brabantine Gothic and Romanesque work. The moated Gravensteen, older and plainer, stands apart as the seat of the counts who once ruled the region. Because the city's fortunes fell after the late sixteenth century, little of this medieval fabric was ever replaced, leaving the centre unusually intact.
Gravensteen
1180
A compact keep encircled by its own moat; the crisp, complete outline it now has comes from a restoration finished in 1903, not from an unbroken medieval survival.
The current structure dates from 1180 and served as the residence of the Counts of Flanders until 1353. It was later repurposed in turn as a courthouse, a prison, a mint, and even a cotton mill. By the late nineteenth century it had fallen into disrepair; a restoration completed in 1903 gave the castle much of the fortress-like appearance it presents today. Encircled by its own moat — a genuine water castle — it is a protected monument and now operates as a museum.
- For a time it served as a cotton mill.
- It also functioned as the city's mint, striking coins within its walls.
- Its familiar fortress-like silhouette today owes largely to a restoration finished in 1903.
Photo: Paul Hermans (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Belfry of Ghent
1313–1380 · Jan van Haelst
A slender Gothic tower standing 91 metres tall, taller than either of the two church towers it shares the historic skyline with.
Designed by Jan van Haelst, this Gothic tower rose over the course of the fourteenth century, from a commission in 1313 to completion around 1380. At 91 metres it is the tallest belfry in Belgium, one of three medieval towers — alongside a cathedral and a parish church — that define the skyline of the old city centre. Together with its attached buildings, it belongs to a cross-border set of belfries in Belgium and France inscribed as a single UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- At 91 metres it is the tallest belfry in Belgium.
- It is part of a single UNESCO World Heritage listing that spans both Belgium and France.
- It shares the old city skyline with two church towers — a cathedral and a parish church — that stand beside it.
Photo: EmDee (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Saint Bavo's Cathedral
1569
An 89-metre Gothic church whose fabric mixes Romanesque, Gothic and Brabantine Gothic phases, best known for housing an altarpiece called the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb.
Built up over several architectural phases, from Romanesque beginnings to later Gothic and Brabantine Gothic work, the cathedral reached substantially its present form in 1569. Standing 89 metres tall, it serves as the seat of the Diocese of Ghent and is named for Saint Bavo of Ghent. It houses the Ghent Altarpiece, also known as the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, and is a protected monument.
- Sources place its completion as much as six decades apart, reflecting a construction that unfolded across a long stretch of time.
Photo: Cmcmcm1 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Saint Nicholas' Church
13th century
A blue-grey stone church in the Scheldt Gothic style, with a single tower over the crossing and slender turrets at each corner, standing beside the old Wheat Market in the historic centre.
Begun in the early thirteenth century as a replacement for an earlier Romanesque church, it was built over the rest of the century in the local Scheldt Gothic style, using blue-grey stone from the Tournai area, a single tower over the crossing, and slender corner turrets. Standing by the old Wheat Market, it was favoured by the trade guilds, who added their own chapels along its sides in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Its tower, partly funded by the city, served as an observation post and carried the town bells until the Belfry of Ghent was built.
- Its organ was built by the French organ maker Aristide Cavaillé-Coll.
Photo: Jiel Beaumadier (http://jiel.b.free.fr) (CC BY-SA 2.5)
History
The city began as a settlement where the Scheldt and the Leie rivers meet, and by the Late Middle Ages it had grown into one of the richest cities in northern Europe, home to some 50,000 people by 1300. The Gravensteen, raised in 1180 as the residence of the Counts of Flanders, is the oldest survivor from that era. Saint Nicholas' Church followed from the early thirteenth century, its tower doubling as bell-carrier and lookout post next to the old trade centre. The Belfry, begun in 1313 and finished by 1380, eventually took over the bell-ringing role and, at 91 metres, became the tallest such tower in the country. Saint Bavo's Cathedral reached substantially its present form later still, in 1569. After the late sixteenth century Ghent's fortunes declined, and the medieval centre these buildings define was rarely rebuilt, leaving it unusually well preserved today.