Instant Cities: Ghent

Ghent › Places and landmarks

Gravensteen

The castle of the Counts of Flanders, built in 1180 by Philip of Alsace. It later served as a court, a prison and even a cotton mill, and got its battlements back around 1900. In 1949 students occupied it, in protest against the price of beer going up.

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Gravensteen in Instant Ghent

The Gravensteen is the only medieval castle in Flanders with an almost completely preserved defensive system, and it stands right in the middle of the city. A moat fed by the Leie and the Lieve surrounds a high curtain wall with turrets and battlements. You enter through the gatehouse onto the courtyard, with the keep in the middle: the count’s massive residential tower, almost thirty metres high.

Inside you wander through the count’s halls, the old cellars, the dungeons and the armoury, with suits of armour, swords and crossbows. There is also a collection of instruments of torture and punishment from the days when the castle was a court and a prison: not the place for small children who scare easily. The high point is literally the roof of the keep: from the battlements you look out over the roofs of the Patershol, the Vrijdagmarkt and the towers of the old town.

The visit comes with an audio guide in the form of an ‘audio film’: Ghent comedian Wouter Deprez tells the castle’s history with plenty of humour, and it works for young and old. So you hear about counts, rebellious Ghent folk and students on the roof as you walk through the halls.

History

There was a fortified place here as early as the 10th century, at first of wood. In 1180 Count Philip of Alsace had the stone castle built that you see today; an inscription above the gate gives the year. Philip had been on crusade and had seen the crusader castles there. His castle was also a message to the rich, rebellious people of Ghent: the count was in charge here.

After the 14th century the counts no longer lived there: they moved to the more comfortable Prinsenhof, where Charles V would be born in 1500. The Gravensteen became the seat of the Council of Flanders, the county’s highest court. Justice was done here, coins were minted, prisoners were locked up and tortured. When the Council left in the 18th century, the castle was sold and split up: houses and workshops moved in and, in the early 19th century, even a cotton mill, with workers’ houses in the courtyard.

By the end of the 19th century the Gravensteen was a crumbling ruin hidden behind houses. The city bought it and had it restored. Around 1900 it was cleared and got its walls, towers and battlements back, partly as the restorers thought a medieval castle ought to look. Just in time for the 1913 World’s Fair it stood there again like a fairy-tale castle.

In November 1949 Ghent students occupied the castle for a few hours, in protest against the price of beer. They barricaded themselves behind the battlements and pelted the police and firemen with rotten vegetables. The story became a legend, and the students still commemorate the occupation every year.

Going to see it

The Gravensteen is on Sint-Veerleplein, five minutes’ walk from the Korenmarkt and the Graslei, on the edge of the Patershol. Buy a ticket at the desk or online in advance; the audio guide is included. Allow an hour and a half. There are many narrow spiral staircases, so the castle is only partly accessible by wheelchair or pushchair.

In summer, go early in the day or late in the afternoon: the battlements are less crowded then. Afterwards you can walk straight into the Patershol, the old quarter of narrow lanes and many restaurants.

More in Ghent

St Bavo’s CathedralBuilt from the 13th to the 16th century, with an 89 m tower. Inside hangs the Van Eyck brothers’ Adoration of the Mystic Lamb (1432), one of the most famous and most stolen paintings in the world. Its Just Judges panel, stolen in 1934, has never been found. BelfryThe town’s 91 m tower, begun in 1313. Ghent kept its charters of rights here, and watchmen looked out for fire and enemies. A gilded dragon keeps watch on top. With the Cloth Hall beside it, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Graslei and KorenleiGhent’s medieval port, on both banks of the Leie. Boatmen unloaded grain here and the guilds built their houses along the quay. The Koornstapelhuis, the grey Romanesque grain store from around 1200, is one of the oldest houses in town. St Michael’s BridgeBuilt at the start of the 20th century, just before the 1913 World Fair. Look east to see Ghent’s three towers in a row: St Nicholas’, the Belfry and St Bavo’s. Behind you stands St Michael’s Church, whose tower was never finished. St Nicholas’ ChurchThe merchants’ church, from the 13th century, in blue-grey Tournai stone: Scheldt Gothic. Its tower sits right on the middle of the roof and doubled as a lookout, long before the Belfry stood. Today it also hosts concerts and exhibitions. City HallA city hall in two styles: ornate late Gothic on the Hoogpoort, sober Renaissance on the Botermarkt. Running out of money and the wars of religion kept halting the building work. The Pacification of Ghent, a peace between the Low Countries’ provinces, was signed here in 1576. VrijdagmarktThe square of markets, feasts and uprisings, where the Counts of Flanders were sworn in. In the middle Jacob van Artevelde, the brewer who led Ghent in 1338, points the way. Across the square stands Ons Huis, the big home of the socialist workers’ movement. Groot VleeshuisThe butchers’ covered meat hall, built from 1406 to 1419. Hams still hang drying under its impressive wooden roof. Today you can buy and taste East Flemish regional produce here. Graffiti StreetThe Werregarenstraatje: since the 1990s anyone may spray paint here, legally. The walls get a fresh layer of paint almost every week, so no two visits look the same. KouterGhent’s smartest square, once a field and a place for parades and archers’ feasts. There has been a flower market here every Sunday since the 18th century, with a brass band in the bandstand. The blue kiosk serves a drink to go with it. VooruitThe party hall of the socialist co-operative Vooruit, opened in 1914: workers came here to dance, for theatre and concerts, and to eat in the café. Artists rescued it from decay in the 1980s. Today it is the arts centre VIERNULVIER. St Peter’s AbbeyThe abbey on the Blandijnberg hill was founded in the 7th century, by Saint Amand as the story goes, and grew into one of the richest in Flanders. The baroque church with its dome (1629-1720) is by Pieter Huyssens. The French dissolved the abbey in 1796; today it is an exhibition hall, with an abbey garden of vines and ruins behind its walls. Gent ZuidUntil 1928 the Zuidstation, Ghent’s first railway station, stood here. Today it is De Lijn’s hub: most city buses start and end here, and the trams pass on their way to the centre and Sint-Pieters. BlaarmeersenGhent’s sports and leisure park, by the Watersportbaan. On hot days the beach on the swimming lake is packed, and joggers run their laps round the 2.3 km rowing course. There is also a campsite, an athletics track and beach volleyball. MammelokkerLook above the door of this little house against the Cloth Hall: a young woman giving an old man her breast. It is the Roman legend of Pero, who nursed her father Cimon when he was left to starve in prison. When it came out, he was set free. The warders of the town prison, which was in the Cloth Hall’s cellars from 1742 to 1902, lived here. Mammelokker is Ghent dialect for breast-sucker. The relief dates from 1741, recarved by Jan Anteunis in 1962. Karel SabbebergGhent’s only mountain, some 30 metres high, and man-made. Until 2003 Ghent skied here on brush mats. In 2019 it was named after the ultrarunner Karel Sabbe, who ran up and down it thousands of times in training. Since 2009 a lookout tower on top looks out over the city. CuberdonsPurple cone-shaped sweets with a runny raspberry heart, sold from little carts on the Groentenmarkt. The tramsDe Lijn’s white and yellow trams, ringing their bells through the narrow streets of the old town. Gentse FeestenTen days every July when the whole old town becomes one of the largest street festivals in Europe. The cycling citySince 2017 cars can no longer drive straight across the centre, and bikes have taken over the streets.