Ghent once consisted of an archipelago of no less than 72 islands. Small rivers were constantly being bridged, canalised and diverted. Floods were a matter of course. The open sewers were the cause of many epidemics and from the second half of the 19th century as many of them as possible were closed over.
Today, the reverse is happening: watercourses are being reopened to play their part as the pumping arteries of the living city.
Numerous renowned painters, sculptors and writers went to their final resting place on this 19 metre-high burial mound...
[Groot Begijnhof
]
This exceptionally large beguinage is relatively young: it was built between 1873 and 1874 as ...
The Illuseum confounds you with tricks of the eye and optical illusions. Just don’t believe your eyes!
[Portus Ganda
]
Ganda, as Ghent was originally called, arose at the confluence of the Lys and the Scheldt. On that site there is now...
[Sint-Baafsabdij
]
You are on historic ground here. In the 7th century, Amandus van Gent founded St Bavo’s Abbey here in an attempt to convert...
[Zwembad Van Eyck
]
Belgium’s oldest indoor swimming pool is also the newest: in 2001 it was fully restored so that the splendid art deco design is today more beautiful than ever.