However, for some people Ghent is the real diamond of Flanders and Belgium. In a unique way, Ghent has managed to preserve its medieval power while keeping up with the times. The city center alone is a showcase of medieval Flemish wealth and commercial success. Modern Ghent certainly cannot be overlooked in Belgium. The city has an important harbor, thanks to the canal Ghent-Terneuzen which allows sea-going vessels to bring their products to the city and its industrial hinterland. Because of the central location in the country, the 'Flanders Technology' fair can regularly be organized. The Belgian State University (RUG = Rijksuniversiteit Gent) continues to grow in importance. The presence of so many young people and students has turned Ghent into an important Flemish cultural center.

Ghent is also the flower city of Belgium. Flower growers from the region around Ghent sell their beautiful begonia's and azalea's all over the world. Every 5 years the successful 'Gentse Floraliën" ( Ghent Flower Show) attracts thousands to the city.The tourist will not have eyes enough to admire the awesome architectural wealth , which offers a splendid combination of impressiveness and idyllic charm of the proud and (in former times) often rebellious city of Ghent.

The people of Ghent proudly wear the nickname 'Stropke', which is actually the round part of the rope through which a convict has to stick his head before being hanged. The citizens of Ghent received this name because of the punishment inflicted on the city by its most famous citizen, Emperor Charles V.
In 1537 Ghent had refused to pay more taxes for a new war of Charles V against the king of France. To deal with his rebellious birth-city for once and for all, Charles V had the city walls destroyed. He also abolished most of the city's privileges and ordered the most important citizens to appear before him to ask for mercy while carrying a rope around their necks, as a sign that they were ready to be hanged if the Emperor would order it.
The punishment was not new. The people of Ghent had already experienced this under one of their former rulers. The first to do it, was Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy in 1458, and this is to what the people of Ghent refer. Duke Philip was punishing the citizens for their uprising of 1448. He had already defeated the city in the bloody Battle of the Gavere in 1453, where upwards of 10,000 of Ghent's soldiers died, but Philip withheld the city's rights and privileges (a virtual shut-down in trade) until a major ceremony staged in 1458 to garner the Duke's forgiveness.

At the onset of this ceremony, Duke Philip marched the leaders of the city and its guilds outside the city walls, stripped them to their undergarments, had them kneel in the mud wearing nooses around their necks, and pledge to him eternal allegiance. After this, they led him through Ghent's streets, decorated with banners and torches and dramatized mythological and biblical scenes, including a live-action version of the Van Eycks' Ghent Altarpiece as the centerpiece.

Further in history :

Archeological research has proved that there was human settlement in Ghent during prehistoric times. Only later, in the Roman period, the nucleus of a city began to grow near the confluence of the two rivers Scheldt and Leie. (The flemish name 'Gent' is probably derived from the Celtic 'Ganda', which meant confluence). It was around the year 630 that Ghent continued to grow when the Abbey of Saint Peter (later Abbey of Saint Bavo) was founded. Later, a second abbey was founded on the so-called 'Blandijnberg'. It was around these two religious centers that a residential nucleus came into existence. This early city was important enough to create a 'portus' with commercial activity. Charlemagne gave it a fleet for protection against the Vikings. In both 851 and 879 the Vikings attacked and plundered the city. Shortly afterwards a first wooden fortification was built for better protection. It stood on the spot where now the impressive 'Castle of the Count' can be visited.

From the 11th until the 12th century Gent rose to become an important trade center, especially because of the production of cloth based on the import of English wool. In 1178 Count Philip of Alsace granted Gent its first privileges. The same Count also transformed the wooden fortification into the impressive stone Castle of the Counts.
In the 13th century the city was governed by an oligarchy of patricians who, continuously, defended their own (mercantile) interests against the Count and the corporations. During the Hundred Years' War the count of Flanders chose the side of the French king. Gent, however, depended heavily on the import of English wool. Therefore, the people of Gent asked Jacob van Artevelde, a corporation frontman, to try and preserve the trade-relations with England. Through diplomatic actions he succeeded and managed to avoid an open conflict with the French King. Jacob was killed by his own people in 1345 but his son Fillip van Artevelde continued the opposition against the Count of Flanders Lodewijk van Male.

In the 15th century, Gent was under stricter rule of the Dukes of Burgundy (who had obtained the County of Flanders through marriage policy). The city managed to regain its important privileges under the young Duchess of Burgundy, Mary. Her marriage with Maximilian of Austria moved the Low Countries into the House of Habsburg. The grandchild of Mary and Maximillian was born in Gent in the year 1500 : CHARLES V. Although a native of the city of Gent, CHARLES V punished his hometown severely when the citizens refused to pay more war-taxes.

Under the rule of Philip II of Spain (son of Charles V) Gent suffered like most other cities of Flanders and the low countries under the continuous religious troubles between Protestants and Catholics. Lots of people left the impoverished Flanders and settled in England and Germany. It was only under the Archdukes Albert and Isabella that Gent could flourish once more. Later, the economic situation improved thanks to the construction of the canal between the Gent harbor and the city of Ostende. War, however, was never far away, especially when Louis XIV of France repeatedly tried to conquer Flanders. The Austrian period of the 18th century again brought peace and prosperity. New industries were developed (sugar refineries and cotton mills).

In 1795 the former Austrian Netherlands were annexed to France. As from 1800 the cotton industry started to flourish. A citizen of Gent, Lieven Bauwens, had smuggled the plans for a cotton mill out of England. Gent turned into one of the most important industrial centers of the French Empire. After the battle of Waterloo and the defeat of Napoleon, the French Netherlands were united with Holland into the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. King William I founded the Gent University in 1817 and had the canal Gent-Terneuzen constructed. Gent continued to grow as an industrial center.

The number of inhabitants tripled in the 19th century. The miserable working and housing conditions of the working-class resulted in the creation of the first Belgian trade union in Gent. Gent also played an important part in the Flemish movement in Belgium. In 1886 the Royal Academy of Language and Literature was founded. In 1930 the Gent University became a Dutch-language university. Now, Gent has a population of about 250.000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Belgian province of East-Flanders.

Things to see in Ghent :

Castle of the count :

The GRAVENSTEEN is the Dutch name for the 'castle of the count'. The counts of Flanders had castles built in the principal cities of the county. Because they had to maintain law and order, they continuously had to move from one city to the other. Therefore, they disposed of a castle in most cities where they wanted to stay for a few months. The castle of Ghent is the only one which survived the centuries more or less intact.
Archeological excavations have proved that three fortified castles constructed in wood must have stood on the site of today's Gravensteen. Already around the year 1000 the first stone castle must have been erected here. Parts of this, such as the chimney and the fireplace, can still be found in the walls of the lower floors of the main tower.

The Gravensteen, like we know it today, has been constructed by Fillips of Alsasse who was count of Flanders between 1157 and 1191. He took part in one of the crusades and died during the siege of Akko in the Holy Land. The opening in the form of a cross, right above the main entrance gate, proves that he already had taken part in a crusade when the Castle was built around 1177-1178.The Gravensteen functioned as the center of the Count's power during the early Middle-Ages. This is somewhat symbolized by the main keep or 'donjon' (tower) from where one can have a panoramic view over the city. Next to the castle lies the Veerleplein (Veerle square), the place where public executions took place. The Gravensteen has been used in later times for different purposes. After the counts moved to more comfortable mansions in the later centuries, it was used as the Mint and later as the main prison of Gent. In the nineteenth century a cotton plant was installed here. In the inner court little houses where built for the textile workers of the plant.

Today, the Gravensteen has been beautifully restored. It is still partially surrounded by the medieval moat. It can be visited all through the year. Inside of the rooms is a museum about the history of prison life and organization, with a very big collection of medieval torture instruments.

The Belfry

A Belfry tower is perhaps the most typical building in medieval Flemish cities. It represents the power of the cities and functioned as treasury and watch tower. In the early Middle-Ages most cities were granted a set of privileges from the count or the duke. These rulers were often forced to give the expanding cities certain rights and privileges, such as the right to organize a yearly market, or the staple right for certain products or animals. In return, the counts received money or soldiers for their never ending battles and wars to expand their territories.

The privileges were written on documents and were read to each new count or duke who took over power after the death or demise of the previous one. Therefore, the documents had to be preserved very well. This was done in the treasury rooms of the belfry towers. At the same time, the towers were used as the command headquarters of the city's militia, and as watch towers to overlook the city. In case of fire or attacks from a foreign army the population was warned with bells.

The Belfry tower of Ghent is perhaps one of the most impressive ones in Flanders. It dominates, together with the St-Nicholas tower and the cathedral tower the medieval center of the city. The architects were Jan van Aelst and Filips van Beergine. The tower was completed in 1338, when the bells were rung for the English king Edward II. At the top corners of the towers a stone soldier on watch was placed. The only remaining original stone soldier was placed in the treasury room in 1870 to preserve the sculpture from further withering. Copies now adorn the four corners of the tower. The 'secret', or treasury room, was protected by two large doors, each with three locks. The keys of these locks were in the hands of the different guilds of Ghent. Therefore, the 'secret' could only be opened in the presence of the main representatives of these powerful leaders of the economic life of the city.
In Ghent, there were always four soldiers on guard on top of the tower. Every hour, they had to blow their horns as a sign that the city was still being guarded.