Ghent › Places and landmarks
Places and landmarks in Ghent
21 landmarks of Ghent, and the streets, squares and waterways around them, each with its story and where to find it.
Photo: Giles Laurent, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Landmarks
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.
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.
Also part of Ghent
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.
Streets, squares and waterways
The places that hold the centre of Ghent together. Point at one to find it on the map.
-
1
Graslei street
The quay on the east bank of the old harbour, lined with the guild houses of the medieval merchants and boatmen.
-
2
Korenlei street
The quay across the water from the Graslei, with merchants’ houses of the 16th to 18th centuries.
-
3
The Lys Leie waterway
The river that flows through the old town to meet the Scheldt. Its stretch between the bridges was Ghent’s medieval harbour; today tour boats leave from its quays.
-
4
St Michael’s Bridge Sint-Michielsbrug bridge
The stone bridge over the Lys from which you see the Graslei, the Korenlei and the three towers of the old town in a row.
-
5
Korenmarkt square
The old corn market, a long square at the foot of St Nicholas’ Church, where trams pass and the Veldstraat begins.
-
6
Emile Braunplein square
The open square between St Nicholas’ Church and the Belfry, with the timber and glass city pavilion, the Stadshal.
-
7
Sint-Baafsplein square
The square in front of St Bavo’s Cathedral, with the Dutch Theatre (NTGent) facing it.
-
8
Botermarkt square
The old butter market, faced by the Renaissance front of the City Hall; its Gothic side looks onto the Hoogpoort.
-
9
Werregarenstraat street
A narrow alley where graffiti is allowed, painted over again and again.
-
10
Vrijdagmarkt square
The big Friday market square, for centuries the place of meetings and revolts, with a statue of Jacob van Artevelde.
-
11
Kraanlei street
A quay along the Lys with old gabled houses, named after the crane that once unloaded the boats here.
-
12
Patershol quarter
A maze of medieval lanes behind the Kraanlei, once a poor quarter of craftsmen, now full of restaurants.
-
13
Groentenmarkt square
The old vegetable market beside the long roof of the Groot Vleeshuis, the medieval meat hall.
-
14
Sint-Veerleplein square
The square in front of the Gravensteen, once the place of the town’s public executions.
-
15
Veldstraat street
Ghent’s main shopping street, running south from the Korenmarkt, free of cars.