The city originally started as a settlement at the confluence of the RiversScheldt andLeie. In theLate Middle Ages Ghent became one of the largest and richest cities ofnorthern Europe, with some 50,000 people in 1300. After the late 16th century Ghent became a less important city, resulting in an extremely well-preserved historic centre, making Ghent a popular tourist destination.
Archaeological evidence shows human presence around the confluence of the Scheldt and the Leie going back as far as theStone Age and theIron Age.[5]
Most historians believe that the older name for Ghent, 'Ganda', is derived from theCeltic wordganda, which means 'confluence',[5] or 'river mouth', referring to theLeie river debouching into theScheldt. Other sources connect its name with an obscure deity namedGontia.[6]
There are no written records of theRoman period, but archaeological research confirms that the Ghent area continued to be inhabited.
When theFranks invaded the Roman territories from the end of the 4th century and well into the 5th century, they brought their language with them, and Celtic and Latin were replaced byOld Dutch.
Under the protection of theCounty of Flanders the city recovered and flourished from the 11th century, growing to become a smallcity-state. By the 13th century, Ghent was the biggest city in Europe north of the Alps afterParis; it was bigger thanCologne orMoscow.[7] Up to 65,000 people lived within the city walls. Thebelfry and the towers of theSt. Bavo's Cathedral andSt. Nicholas' Church are just a few examples of the skyline of the period.
The rivers flowed in an area where much land was periodically flooded. These rich grass 'meersen' ("water-meadows": a word related to the English 'marsh') were ideally suited for grazing sheep, the wool of which was used to make cloth.
During the Middle Ages Ghent became the leading European city for the manufacture ofcloth. Wool was imported from Scotland and England, although during theHundred Years' War trade suffered significantly.
View on the city of Ghent in 1540 byLucas de Heere15th-century Ghent miniature ofJoseph, showing daily life there
In 1500,Juana of Castile gave birth toCharles V, who becameHoly Roman Emperor and King ofSpain. Although native to Ghent, he punished the city after the 1539Revolt of Ghent and obliged the city's nobles to walk in front of the Emperor barefoot with a noose (Dutch:"strop") around the neck; since this incident, the people of Ghent have been called "Stroppendragers" (noose bearers). St. Bavo's Abbey (not to be confused with the nearby St. Bavo's Cathedral) was abolished, torn down, and replaced with a fortress forRoyal Spanish troops. Only a small portion of the abbey was spared demolition.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, Ghent's textile industry flourished again.Lieven Bauwens, having smuggled theindustrial and factory machine plans out of England, introduced the first mechanicalweaving machine on theEuropean continent in 1800.
TheTreaty of Ghent, negotiated here and adopted on Christmas Eve 1814, formally ended theWar of 1812 between Great Britain and the United States (the North American phase of the Napoleonic Wars). After theBattle of Waterloo, Ghent andFlanders, previously ruled from the House of Habsburg inVienna as the Austrian Netherlands, became a part of theUnited Kingdom of the Netherlands with the northern Dutch for 15 years. In this period, Ghent established its ownuniversity (1816)[8] and anew connection to the sea (1824–27).
After theBelgian Revolution, with the loss of port access to the sea for more than a decade, the local economy collapsed, and the first Belgian trade union originated in Ghent. In 1913 there was aworld exhibition in Ghent.[8] As a preparation for these festivities, theSint-Pieters railway station was completed in 1912.
Ghent was occupied by the Germans in both world wars but escaped severe destruction. The life of the people and the German invaders in Ghent duringWorld War I is described by H. Wandt in "etappenleven te Gent".[9] InWorld War II the city was liberated by the British7th "Desert Rats" Armoured Division and local Belgian fighters on 6 September 1944, with the northern suburbs and the industrial area cleared over the following days by the15th (Scottish) Infantry Division.
The climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year-round. According to theKöppen climate classification system, Ghent has amarine west coast climate, abbreviated "Cfb" on climate maps.[10]
Ghent is home to many people of foreign origin and immigrants. The 2020 census[12] revealed that 35.5% of the inhabitants had roots outside of Belgium and 15.3% had a non-Belgian nationality. Many neighbourhoods already have a minority-majority population, primarily in the north, east, and west of the city and some pockets in the south. Some examples are Brugse Poort, Dampoort, Rabot, Ledeberg, Nieuw Gent/UZ and the area around Sleepstraat (known for its many Turkish restaurants).
In the 19th century Ghent's most famous architect,Louis Roelandt, built the university hall Aula, the opera house, and the main courthouse. Highlights of modern architecture are the university buildings (theBoekentoren or Book Tower) byHenry Van de Velde. There are also a few theatres from diverse periods.
The beguinages, as well as the belfry and adjacent cloth hall, were recognized byUNESCO asWorld Heritage Sites in 1998 and 1999.
TheZebrastraat, a social experiment in which an entirely renovated site unites living, economy, and culture, can also be found in Ghent.
Campo Santo is a famous Catholic burial site of the nobility and artists.
One of the more notable pieces ofcontemporary architecture in Ghent isDe Krook, the new central library and media center, a collaboration between local firm Coussée and Goris and Catalan firm RCR Arquitectos.
Important museums in Ghent are theMuseum voor Schone Kunsten (Museum of Fine Arts), with paintings byHieronymus Bosch,Peter Paul Rubens, and many Flemish masters; theSMAK or Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (City Museum for Contemporary Art), with works of the 20th century, includingJoseph Beuys andAndy Warhol; and theDesign Museum Gent with masterpieces ofVictor Horta andLe Corbusier. TheHuis van Alijn (House of the Alijn family) was originally abeguinage and is now a museum for folk art where theatre and puppet shows for children are presented. TheMuseum voor Industriële Archeologie en Textiel or MIAT displays the industrial strength of Ghent with recreations of workshops and stores from the 1800s and original spinning and weaving machines that remain from the time when the building was a weaving mill. TheGhent City Museum (Stadsmuseum, abbreviated STAM), is committed to recording and explaining the city's past and its inhabitants, and to preserving the present for future generations.
NTGent is the city theatre of Ghent, a public institution known for its radical productions. The theatre company's home base is in theRoyal Dutch Theatre [nl] (Koninklijke Nederlandse Schouwburg, or KNS), with a secondary location in the city at Minnemeers. The company also tours extensively.[14]
In Ghent and other regions ofEast Flanders, bakeries sell a donut-shaped bun called a "mastel" (plural "mastellen"), which is basically a bagel. "Mastellen" are also called "Saint Hubert bread", because, on the Saint's feast day, which is 3 November, the bakers bring their batches to the early Mass to be blessed. Traditionally, it was thought that blessed mastellen immunized againstrabies.
Other local delicacies are the praline chocolates from local producers such asLeonidas, thecuberdons or 'neuzekes' ('noses'), cone-shaped purple jelly-filled candies (a four-year feud between two local vendors made international news),[15] 'babelutten' ('babblers'), hard butterscotch-like candy, and of course, on the more fiery side, the famous 'Tierenteyn', a hot but refined mustard that has some affinity to French 'Dijon' mustard.
Stoverij is a classic Flemish meat stew, preferably made with a generous addition of brown'Trappist' (strong abbey beer) and served with French fries. 'Waterzooi' is a local stew originally made from freshwater fish caught in the rivers and creeks of Ghent, but nowadays often made with chicken instead of fish. It is usually served nouvelle-cuisine-style and supplemented by a large pot on the side.
The Ghent Festival (Gentse Feesten in Dutch) is an annual festival that lasts for ten days. It has been held for more than 50 years (since 1969) and is attended by about 1–1.5 million visitors. It did not take place in 2020 and 2021 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in Belgium, being held again in the summer of 2022, after a two-year break.
TheFestival of Flanders had its 50th celebration in 2008. In Ghent, it opens with the OdeGand City festivities that take place on the second Saturday of September. Some 50 concerts take place in diverse locations throughout the medievalinner city and some 250 international artists perform.
The numerous parks in the city can also be considered tourist attractions. Most notably, Ghent boasts anature reserve (Bourgoyen-Ossemeersen, 230 hectares (570 acres)[21]) and a recreation park (Blaarmeersen, 87 hectares; 215 acres).[22]
Ghent University and several research-oriented companies, such as Ablynx, Innogenetics, Cropdesign, and Bayer Cropscience, are situated in the central and southern part of the city.
As the largest city in East Flanders, Ghent has four large hospitals, numerous schools, and shopping streets.Flanders Expo, the biggest event hall in Flanders and the second biggest in Belgium, is also located in Ghent. Tourism is becoming a major employer in the local area.[23]
Gent-Sint-Pieters Station: an international railway station with connections to Bruges, Brussels, Antwerp, Kortrijk, other Belgian towns, and Lille. The station also offers a direct connection toBrussels Airport.
Gent-Dampoort Station: an intercity railway station with connections to Sint-Niklaas, Antwerp, Kortrijk andEeklo.
Gentbrugge Station: a regional railway station in between the two main railway stations, Sint-Pieters and Dampoort.
Wondelgem Station: a regional railway station with connections to Eeklo once an hour.
Drongen Station: a regional railway station in the village ofDrongen with connections toBruges once an hour.
Line 2: Zwijnaarde Bibliotheek – Sint-Pieters-Station – Zonnestraat (city centre) – Brabantdam – Zuid –Melle Leeuw (fuse of line 21 and 22 as of May 2017[24])
Line 4: UZ – Sint-Pieters-Station – Muide – Korenmarkt (city centre) – Zuid –Moscou
Line 21: Zwijnaarde Bibliotheek – Sint-Pieters-Station – Zonnestraat (city centre) – Zuid –Melle Leeuw (fused into line 2)
Line 22: Kouter – Bijlokehof – Sint-Pieters-Station – Zonnestraat (city centre) – Zuid –Gentbrugge (fused into line 2)
Apart from the city buses mentioned above, Ghent also has numerous regional bus lines connecting it to towns and villages across the province of East Flanders. All of these buses stop in at least one of the city's regional bus hubs at either Sint-Pieters Station, Dampoort Station, Zuid or Rabot.
International buses connecting Ghent to other European destinations are usually found at the Dampoort Station. A couple of private bus companies such as Eurolines, Megabus and Flixbus operate from the Dampoort bus hub.
Buses to and from Belgium's first (Brussels Airport) and second airport (Brussels South Charleroi Airport) are operated by Flibco, and can be found at the rear exit of the Sint-Pieters Station.
Ghent has the largest designated cyclist area in Europe, with nearly 400 kilometres (250 mi) of cycle paths and more than 700 one-way streets, where bikes are allowed to go against the traffic. It also boasts Belgium's firstbicycle boulevard, where cars are considered 'guests' and must stay behind cyclists.[citation needed] In 2013, it began doing on-street surveys of bicycles, adding bicycle parking racks in neighbourhoods where they were needed. In 2017, the city changed traffic circulation patterns to favour cycling. The switch was done over the course of a single weekend, changing traffic circulation on over 80 streets and 2500 road signs. It expanded the car-free zone in the historic city center more than twofold. It also put in radial barriers to car traffic, thus shifting it onto the inner ring road.[25][26]
More cyclists means a higher demand forbicycle parking stations. In 2010, the plans to renovate Gent-Sint-Pieters railway station included 10,000 bicycle parking spots.[27] In 2020, several sections of the underground parking facilities have been built, and the targets have been adjusted to a total of 17,000 parking spots.[28]
Ghent was, up until 2021,twinned with 7 different cities (Saint-Raphaël in France,Wiesbaden andMelle in Germany,Kanazawa in Japan,Tallinn in Estonia,Mohammedia in Morocco andNottingham in the United Kingdom), but decided to end its twinning with all of them with the exception of Kanazawa.[48]
^Statistics Belgium;De Belgische Stadsgewesten 2001 (pdf-file)Archived 29 October 2008 at theWayback Machine Definitions of metropolitan areas in Belgium. The metropolitan area of Ghent is divided into three levels. First, the central agglomeration (agglomeratie) with 278,457 inhabitants (1 January 2008). Adding the closest surroundings (banlieue) gives a total of 455,302. And, including the outer commuter zone (forensenwoonzone) the population is 594,582. Retrieved on 19 October 2008.
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