Instant Cities: Ghent

Ghent › Places and landmarks

St Nicholas’ Church

Sint-Niklaaskerk

The 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.

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St Nicholas’ Church is the first of Ghent’s three towers you see coming from St Michael’s Bridge, and perhaps the most beautiful. It is built in Scheldt Gothic, a style found only in this region: plain, powerful Gothic in blue-grey stone from Tournai, shipped to Ghent down the Scheldt. Look at the corner turrets on the gables and at the great crossing tower, which does not stand at the front as on most churches but in the middle of the roof, above where nave and transept meet.

Inside, the church is surprisingly light and lofty. Its windows let plenty of daylight onto the pale stone, and you can see how the Gothic builders carried the weight of the roof with pillars and arches. There is a large Baroque high altar, and the impressive organ is the work of French organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, who also made the organs of Notre-Dame and Saint-Sulpice in Paris.

The church is still used for services, but also for concerts, exhibitions and events. Precisely because it stands on the bustling Korenmarkt, it is a good place to take a quiet moment.

History

St Nicholas’ is the merchants’ church. It stands on the Korenmarkt, where grain and other goods were traded in the Middle Ages, and was paid for by the city’s rich traders and guilds. St Nicholas is no coincidence: he is the patron saint of merchants and boatmen, among others. A Romanesque church stood here first; early in the 13th century work began on the Gothic church you see today.

The crossing tower long served as the city’s lookout. Watchmen kept an eye on the surroundings from it, and its bells called the townspeople together. When the Belfry was finished in the 14th century, it took over that role. Over the centuries the church was hit by fires, by the iconoclastic fury and by the French revolutionaries, who used it as a stable for a while.

From the 18th century on, little houses and shops grew up against its outer walls, until the church almost vanished behind a row of fronts. These were only cleared away in the 20th century. By then the church was in such a state that it had to close for a time. In the 1960s a long restoration began, which took decades and gave the church back the blue-grey beauty you see today.

Going to see it

The church stands on the Korenmarkt, between St Michael’s Bridge and the Belfry, and is free to visit. It is usually open every day, on Mondays often only from midday, and during services and events part of it may be closed off. A visit takes about twenty minutes.

Keep an eye on what’s on: organ recitals and other concerts are held here regularly, and that is when you hear the Cavaillé-Coll organ at its best.

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. GravensteenThe 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. 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. 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.