A visit to the old Ghent Docks

The unique cityscape of Handelsdok and Voorhaven still boasts plenty of relics from the area’s maritime past, including harbour cranes, warehouses, swing bridges and gems of Art Nouveau architecture. To breathe new life into the disused quays, two urban renewal projects were rolled out at the beginning of this century: Oude Dokken and Muide Meulestede Morgen. 

This walk takes you along Handelsdok and Houtdok, and an (optional) extra 2.5-kilometre loop will guide you through Ghent’s largest listed townscape: the Voorhaven area.

The walk begins and ends at the Museum of Industry. Three exhibitions bring back to life the large and small stories of Ghent’s eventful industrial past. In the main exhibition, you can discover old maps of the former port docks as well as the story of dockworker César Van de Rostyne. César was born in 1909 and worked in various cotton mills for many years. From 1946 until the end of his career, he was a docker and foreman at Houtdok.