The best city hikes and walks in Belgium

A Romanesque warehouse, also called "Spijker", served as a storage place for grain transported along the Leiehaven until 1734. Presumably initially owned by the Ghent patrician family Utenhove; since the end of the 13th century, it belonged to the Holy Spirit table of St. Nicholas' Church, which rented it out to grain merchants. From the 16th century onwards, it housed offices of the staple lords, who supervised the collection of the Ghent staple duty; from 1750 as a meeting place for the Pijnders or grain unloaders. The ground floor in the 19th century deteriorated into slum dwellings; burned down in 1896, but the facade was preserved. Restored in 1903 according to a design by architect August Van Assche. Currently, the municipal cleaning service continues to use it for storing containers. Slightly forward-leaning facade with seven bays and three storeys, as well as a gable roof (ridges perpendicular to the street, slate tiles), from the fourth quarter of the 12th century. A wide, stepped gable with six bays and an additional bay, topped with two battlements, built entirely of Tournai limestone. Source: https://inventaris.onroerenderfgoed.be/erfgoedobjecten/24758

The Korenstapelhuis or Spijker is a guild house in the Belgian city of Ghent on the Graslei. It is a building built in the Romanesque style from the late 12th century, making it one of the oldest examples of bourgeois Romanesque architecture in Belgium and the Netherlands. It is built of Tournai limestone. It served as a Spijker (grain storage) until 1734. After that, the building served as a meeting place for the Pijnders (grain unloaders). In the 19th century, the building fell into disrepair until it was restored in 1901–1902. Today it houses a hamburger restaurant. To the right of the Korenstapelhuis is the Mauthaus. The left side wall of the Tolhuisje is actually the outer wall of the Korenstapelhuis.

Between the Leie and Onderbergen lies the Pand, a former Dominican monastery. It is an impressive complex around a forecourt and the old cemetery. The former hospital (1201) came into the hands of the Dominicans, an order that preached in cities and won souls, hence their nickname 'Preachers'. However, the people of Ghent did not like being enslaved and were tired of the sermons. This monastery thus became one of the first victims of the iconoclasts. In the 16th century, Ghent's first theological university saw the light of day in this monastery. Later, in the 19th century, the building became a "tenement house": almost every square meter was rented out to students, artists, and Ghent tribes. The nickname 'Flea Palace' also dates from this period. Source: https://visit.gent.be/nl/zien-doen/pand

The Royal Dutch Theatre Dutch: Koninklijke Nederlandse Schouwburg, is a theatre building in the Belgian city of Ghent. The theatre is located on the north side of Sint-Baafsplein, which was created in 1897 by the demolition of older buildings that blocked the view of St. Bavo's Cathedral. The theatre was built between 1897 and 1899 on the site of the former Regnessestraat. It was designed in an eclectic style with predominantly Renaissance elements by the architect Edmond De Vigne.

In the second half of the 9th century, Wijdenaard, the most important port on the Scheldt, was located here. "Natur" meant mooring place and "broad" referred to the importance of the place. Although some claim that this place name refers to Wijden or Groten Aard, more specifically to the Sint-Janskerkhof, which was formerly located here on the site of the Bisdomplein. The trade around this port led to considerable growth of the oldest medieval city center. In the following centuries, trade shifted to the Castrum on the Leie, where a second portus developed. Due to this development, Wijdenaard lost its importance and was given the name Wijngaard and the nearby bridge logically Wijngaardbrug. Previously, the wines delivered along the Scheldt were unloaded and sold there. Many wine sellers lived in the area. In 1526, the existing wooden bridge was replaced by a stone one. A second renovation took place in 1734 by master builder David 't Kindt. At that time, this bridge was barely 6 m wide. When the Lower Scheldt was filled in 1885, the Wijngaardbrug was rebuilt in metal across the entire width of the Reep, i.e. 22 m. New buildings in the course of the 19th and the first quarter of the 20th century with the construction of large complexes in various neo-styles. Dominated on the west by the neo-Gothic Bishop's Palace, on the south by monumental neoclassical buildings of the National Bank, and finally by the empire-colored buildings of the Provincial Government. The gas lamps on the bridge disappeared in 1954, when public lighting was introduced. When the Reep was filled in 1960, the bridge was demolished in nine days. The Scaldis lock (Scaldis = Scheldt), completed in 2012 at the Oude Beestenmarkt, allows the Upper Scheldt, coming from the Brabantdam, to flow into the newly excavated Lower Scheldt. Between the Bisdomplein and the Reep, the "Wijdenaardbrug" was built for this purpose, which was completed at the end of March 2007 and was then only accessible to cyclists and pedestrians. Source: https://gentdekuip.com/wijdenaardbrug/

Striking in the facade is the large arch field, decorated with a multi-colored mosaic. The allegorical scene depicts Apollo and the Muses. In the niches, the statues of the most important Ghent rhetoricians' chambers from the end of the 19th century are displayed: de Fonteine, Sint Barbara, Sint Agneete and Maria ter Eere. They are by Louis Mast.

De Ketelvest is an artificial canal, dug in the early 11th century with shovels for the defense of the trading center of Ghent. The path next to the Ketelvest marked the border between the lordship of St.-Pieters and the city of Ghent. Two preserved boundary stones in the facade of the St.-Barbaracollege and at house no. 39 recall that period. This watercourse connects the Leie at Ketelpoort-Kuipgat with the Schelde at Grote Huidevettershoek, once the border between the German Empire and the French Kingdom.

Visit Ghent's famous Book Tower online: https://boekentoren.gent/nl/bezoek/online