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Henry van de Velde and his fight for the fourth tower
The three medieval towers in Ghent had stood undisturbed for centuries. Then just over a hundred years ago, a challenger emerged out of nowhere. In concrete, no less, and 64 metres high. Henry van de Velde’s Booktower is now regarded as a modernist masterpiece, but that wasn't always the case.
Blog posts
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What is depicted in the Ghent Altarpiece?
Many stories surround the Ghent Altarpiece. Amateur detectives, for example, have been engrossed in the mystery concerning that one stolen panel for just under a century. But it might be a good idea to take a look at the seventeen other panels. What is actually depicted in Ghent’s most famous painting?
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Good food for everyone
Good food is preferably fresh, tasty and locally produced, but it’s much more than that. The City of Ghent feels that food waste should be reduced to a minimum and that good food must be affordable for everyone. It will be my pleasure to tell you what Ghent does to achieve these goals.
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The beauty of small things: details of the renovated cathedral
Restorers are specialists in finding a balance between old and new, between visible and invisible, between permanent and temporary. On the one hand, they want to go back to the original as much as possible, but on the other hand, they should not fake it. Just take a look at some of the details.
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When the bones speak
A woman over a thousand years old had been recovered with no name, no headstone and no jewellery. And yet we were able to get a very close idea about her life by studying her remains. What was supposed to be a small-scale investigation grew into a full-blown detective story in St Peter's Abbey.
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Are these the bones of Judith, the first countess of Flanders?
If you visit St Peter's Abbey today, take note of the commemorative stone plaque behind the bike rack. In it are chiselled the names of the first Margraves (counts) of Flanders and all are said to be buried in the abbey church: Baldwin Iron Arm, Baldwin the Bald, Arnulf I & II... There is no mention of Judith, the first countess, even though she in particular may have lain only a few metres from that location.
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A naive teenager, a shrew or a feminist ... who was Judith of Flanders really?
The Carolingians, the Treaty of Verdun and the invasion of the Vikings: for most of us, the 9th century consists of nothing more than vague echoes from our third year in secondary school, and is therefore a period we're particularly keen to forget about. But once you realise that the people back then were also human beings made of flesh and blood, that's when history actually becomes rock-and-roll. And that's especially true in the case of Judith, the first countess of Flanders.
