Ghent: Amazing Medieval City of Guilds and Commerce

Ghent, just a short trip on the train from Bruges, is the second largest city in Belgium and the capital of Flanders. The official language here is Dutch.  Wondering why I mentioned this?  Well Belgium is divided into three federal regions: the Flemish Region which speak Dutch (Flanders), the Walloon Region which speaks French, and Brussels which is the Capital and naturally is bi-lingual.

A little bit of history tucked in here and there just for interest.

Ghent is believed to have been founded in 630 AD. Located on the Rivers Scheldt and Lys became a powerhouse in wool and cloth production. One of Ghent’s main industries in the 14th century was in the Belfry or Cloth Hall and it was wool and cloth.

Ghent geographically is located at the confluence of two main rivers. As trade was done a lot by water  Ghent a very busy city. Their exports made them a major industrial centre in Northern Europe.

Currently, in part due to the Ghent-Terneuzen Canal, which is 200m wide, 13.5 meters deep  and 32 km long, it services large ocean going vessels. It is estimated that 11,000 ships use the Canal a year with 30 per day.

Today, Ghent is a vibrant city which hosts a University, an abundance of medieval buildings that bring to life a sense of what the city looked like during earlies times. As with so many European cities the architecture alone is worth the trip and the food is a close second.  

A couple of the sites you might enjoy is St. Nicholas’ Church and St. Bako’s Cathedral.

St Bavo’s is more than a 1000 years old and it has a rich history.  Saint John the Baptist consecrated this site in 942. In the middle ages it was converted to a Gothic style (bigger and more lavish).

In 1536 Emperor Charles V ordered it demolished . Part of it was demolished however not all. The balance of the church  was converted into  military barracks.

In 1559, it was established as Saint Bavo’s Cathedral. 

Another church worthy of a visit St. Nicholas’ Church which was built in Tournai bluestone  or Petit Granit . It is a dense limestone and known for if dark blue-gray color. As with many of the churches we have visited in Europe the artistic details are amazing including the stain glass windows.

Since transportation here was mostly via boats, we went for a boat ride.  You certainly get a different perspective from the canal, looking at the buildings.

An example are the houses along the canal, which I noticed had large doors at the water level that looked like garage doors.

They are not boat sheds; rather, they were used as access spots for boats to unload and load goods and people. Additionally, these doors opened for flood control and as they were always cool they acted as a root cellar for food.

Our guide on the boat pointed out the Dovecots at the peak of people’s roofs. They were signs that these people were rich and powerful. The right to own a Dovecot was limited to only the feudal lords and the aristocracy. They kept doves and pigeons for food.   

We were told on our cruise down the canal to look at the windows of the buildings. Why you ask as many of the windows were blocked off. Blocking the windows would result in poor ventilation, poor lighting and health related issues. The answer we received was that the government implemented a Window Tax.  The fewer windows the less the tax.  In digging deeper I found that the Window tax was not implemented in Ghent instead they had a Levy that ensured the property owners would maintain their historic facades. The levy was one gold franc per meter of façade. Interesting.

The best location to find Canal tours is at the Graslei and Korenlei quayside. A variety of tour operators are located there. It is a good idea to get your ticket early to ensure you can get a seat. 

In the Late Middle Ages Ghent became one of the largest and richest cities of northern Europe, with some 50,000 people in 1300. One of the first sights on our boat cruise this afternoon was past an old monastery (above photo). Notice the bump-out addition to the building? It was an outhouse, and it emptied directly into the river! No flushing needed! Hundreds of monks lined up every morning to use this toilet. The monks were not the only people whose toilet emptied into the river.

The solution that  the locals came up with was …to brew beer as an alternative beverage to water. I have heard this tale over and over again through the years and also heard that the  children drank beer. Today I learned they brewed a “safer” version for children: Only 2% alcohol.

Getting back to the industry in the area the city was the centre for the cloth and wool trade in the Middle Ages. The Lakenhal or Cloth Hall is located next to the city’s Belfry tower was where these products were sold.  The Lakeenhalle  building was started in 1425 by Philip the Good. The hall took 20 years to complete with only eleven of the 20 bays completed. 

A decline in the 15th century occurred  due to the 100 Year War, taxes, the impact of the Black Death and competition from other countries.  Today the building is a Unesco World Heritage site.

Ghent was eventually granted charters that  allowed them certain rights and privileges such as freedom from feudal obligations.  Feudal obligations I understand it to mean ‘reciprocal duties between lords and vassals, primarily involving military service, counsel, and financial contributions from the vassal in exchange for a grant of land and protection from the Lord’ 

Let’s carry on down the cannel  past the  Castle of Counts  (Gravensteen) built in 1180 A.D. by  Count Philip of Alsce in Ghent,  a mere 845 years ago , just to keep things in  perspective.  The castle has some grand rooms and of course a dungeon.  A couple of the torture items used was the Spiked Collar that was very effective as few prisoner’s lasts longer than 3 hours.  The next device is the Limb Clever – no description needed and several other equally terrifying devices. 

The city even had  lamp lighters who went around every night at dusk to ignite these lamps, generally along the main streets and bridges.  

If you are looking for specific architectural styles, you might be interested in the Ghent City Hall, built in both late Gothic and Renaissance styles. The City Hall was built between 1519 and 1618.

There is so much to see and do in Ghent and we would have loved to stay longer to experience the evening, night and early morning.  Yet, even as a Day Trip, Ghent was a wonderful and unique experience that we would recommend to anyone travelling in this part of the world!