Ghent

Ghent, city, Flanders Region, northwestern Belgium. Ghent lies at the junction of the canalized Lys (Leie) and Scheldt (Schelde) rivers and is the centre of an urban complex that includes Ledeberg, Gentbrugge, and Sint-Amandsberg.

One of Belgium’s oldest cities and the historic capital of Flanders, Ghent was powerful, well-organized in its wealthy trade guilds, and virtually independent until 1584. Within its walls was signed the Pacification of Ghent (1576), an attempt to unite the Lowlands provinces against Spain. The Treaty of Ghent (December 24, 1814) marked the end of the War of 1812 between the United States and Britain.

Along with Brugge (Bruges) and Ypres, Ghent was one of the chief towns of the medieval county of Flanders. It owes its origin to the economic developments that occurred in Flanders in the 10th century, and the town sprang up on the banks of the Lys River at a spot under the protection of a nearby castle built by the counts of Flanders. Ghent grew rapidly in the 12th century, and by the 13th century it was one of the largest towns in northern Europe. Its astonishing prosperity was based on the manufacture of cloth; Ghent’s luxury cloths made from English wool were famous throughout Europe until the 15th century. The city’s wealth gave it great political power and virtual autonomy from its nominal rulers, the counts of Flanders and (from 1384) the dukes of Burgundy. This situation often led to open conflict. At the start of the Hundred Years’ War in the early 14th century, Ghent sided with Edward III of England against the count of Flanders and the king of France. Edward’s fourth son, John of Gaunt (i.e., of Ghent), was born in Ghent in 1340. The heavy taxes later imposed by the dukes of Burgundy prompted several uprisings by the town’s citizens in the 15th century, and the army of Ghent was massacred by the forces of Philip the Good at the Battle of Gavre in 1453. With the marriage of Mary of Burgundy to the future Holy Roman emperor Maximilian I in 1477, Ghent passed to the rule of the Habsburgs. The future Holy Roman emperor Charles V was born in Ghent in 1500.

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The city began to decline economically in the late 16th century, after the outbreak of the rebellion against Spanish Habsburg rule in the Netherlands. Ghent was a prominent leader in this struggle during the 1570s and ’80s, and the Pacification of Ghent, which united the northern and southern provinces of the Netherlands in the resistance against Spain, was signed in the city in 1576. Ghent’s cloth industry disappeared in the ensuing decades, however, since it was unable to compete with English cloth manufacturers. Ghent’s decline was accelerated in 1648 by its loss of access to the sea via the estuary of the Scheldt River, which was in Dutch hands.

Ghent’s commercial and industrial activity began to revive with the introduction of cotton-spinning machinery (in particular, a power loom smuggled out of England) and the construction of a port (1827) and of the Ghent-Terneuzen Canal (1824–27) to the mouth of the Scheldt. Ghent subsequently became the centre of the Belgian textiles industry and an important port as well; its docks became accessible to the largest vessels after extensive improvements were made to the canal and its locks.

Ghent is also a centre of horticulture and market gardening, and its great flower show, Gentse Floraliën (French: Floralies Gantoises), is held every five years. Ghent’s other significant economic activities have included oil refining and banking and the manufacture of paper, chemicals, and light machinery. Tourism-related businesses play a particularly important role in the local economy, as the density of historic sites renders Ghent an attractive tourist destination.

Indeed, Ghent has retained more traces of its past than any other Belgian town except perhaps Brugge. In the centre of the city stands the 14th-century Belfry (about 300 feet [90 metres] high), which has a 52-bell carillon and is crowned by a gilded copper dragon forged in 1377. The town hall reflects a diversity of styles: its north facade (1518–35) is a magnificent example of Flamboyant Gothic, whereas the east facade, completed almost a century later, is Renaissance. The feudal castle of the counts of Flanders, the Gravensteen, dates from 1180; with its great keep and circular walls, it is one of the most-imposing moated castles to have survived in Europe.

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Ghent is well known for its large public squares and marketplaces, chief among which is the Vrijdagmarkt (“Friday Market”), the centre of the life of the medieval city. Of Ghent’s many famous medieval monasteries, the most notable are the ruined 7th-century abbey of St. Bavo (Bavon, or Baaf), which was the birthplace of John of Gaunt and now houses the Lapidary Museum, and the remains of the Cistercian abbey of Byloke, or Bijloke (1228), which now houses the museum of archaeology and part of the city hospital. The Gothic Cathedral of St. Bavo, dating from the 12th century, contains many valuable works of art, including Hubert and Jan van Eyck’s polyptych altarpiece, The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, also called the Ghent Altarpiece (1432).

Other medieval churches include St. Nicholas, which has the third of the great towers of Ghent (the others are the Belfry and St. Bavo’s), and Saint-Michel, containing Anthony Van Dyck’s painting of “Christ on the Cross.” Ghent is also famous for its béguinages (retreats for secular nuns), two of which survive from the 13th century.

Ghent has many fine museums, notably the Museum of Fine Arts, which contains a treasury of paintings by Flemish masters who lived and worked in Ghent during the 16th and 17th centuries. There is a state university, founded by William I in 1817, and an agricultural college. Pop. (2014 est.) mun., 251,133.