Instant Cities: Ghent

Ghent › Places and landmarks

Vooruit

The 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.

See it in 3D Watch the tour

Vooruit in Instant Ghent

Photo: Vlaamse Gemeenschap, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Vooruit is a large, striking building on the Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat, with two little towers, a rich front mixing Art Nouveau and eclectic styles, and big windows that glow warmly in the evening. It was built as a festival hall for working people, and that still shows: inside there is a large ballroom with balconies, a theatre, smaller halls, stairwells with stained glass and, on the ground floor, a huge café.

Today it is one of the leading arts centres in Flanders, under the name VIERNULVIER. There are concerts, from rock and electronica to jazz and world music, theatre and dance, talks, debates, parties and festivals. The ground-floor café is open to everyone, ticket or not, and is a much-loved meeting place for students, artists and neighbours.

Being close to the university, Vooruit feels like the living room of student life in Ghent. On a terrace across the street, with a view of the lit-up front, you get a real sense of how lively this neighbourhood is. Visit it in 3D ›

History

Vooruit (Forward) was originally a socialist cooperative, founded in Ghent in 1880. It began as a cooperative bakery where workers together bought good, cheap bread; the profits went to set up other shops, a pharmacy, a health fund and cultural activities. The movement grew into a large organisation that shaped the lives of thousands of Ghent working families.

Between 1911 and 1914 the cooperative had this festival hall built, designed by architect Ferdinand Dierkens. It was meant to show working people that culture, fun and beauty were for them too, not just for the rich middle class. Balls, plays, concerts, congresses and meetings were held here, and the café was full every day.

After the Second World War the building lost its purpose; the halls fell into disrepair and there was even talk of demolition. In the early 1980s young artists and culture lovers took the initiative to bring Vooruit back to life as an arts centre. The building was listed and restored step by step. In 2021 the arts centre was renamed VIERNULVIER; the building itself is still called Vooruit.

Going to see it

Vooruit is on the Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat, about ten minutes’ walk from the Korenmarkt, in the student quarter. The café is usually open every day, from late morning until late at night, and you can just walk in. For concerts and shows you buy a ticket; they often sell out fast.

Now and then there are guided tours of the building, which take you behind the scenes of its halls.

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. 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. 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.