The layers
Pieces over pieces — a living street-art archive.
Steven Lek — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Steven Lek — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Steven Lek — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Steven Lek — CC BY-SA 4.0
Graffiti Street is a narrow, crooked alley in the heart of old Ghent turned into an ever-changing street gallery: since 1995 graffiti artists have been allowed to paint here freely (on condition that good work is not covered by bad), so its walls are a living painting changing weekly — huge coloured pieces, characters and phrases layered over one another — never seen the same way twice. It was born of a practical idea: channelling illegal graffiti into one place instead of the historic city's façades, and it became among Europe's most famous street-art routes and a piece of Ghent's rebellious youth culture (a university city). Photographing it is a ritual, and sometimes you find an artist at work. Free and minutes from the Korenmarkt and the Belfry — a short, colourful detour between Gothic and Gothic.
Pieces over pieces — a living street-art archive.
Sometimes you watch the piece being painted.
Werregarenstraat, 9000 Ghent
Ghent City HallGhent's City Hall is an architecture lesson on one façade: its northern half (on1 minute walk3.8
Het TorekenA fifteenth-century building with a small tower on the Vrijdagmarkt, formerly th2 minutes walk4.5
Belfry of GhentGhent's Belfry is the middle and most symbolic of the three towers: a fourteenth3 minutes walk4.5
St Nicholas' ChurchSt Nicholas' Church is the first of the three towers from the quays and the olde3 minutes walk4.7
KorenmarktThe Korenmarkt ("Wheat Market") is Ghent's central square and meeting place: a b3 minutes walk4.8Strongly yes — besides this alley, the city launched the "Sorry, Not Sorry" project of huge murals by international artists on façades across districts, and the tourist office hands out a street-art route map. Young, university Ghent mixes Gothic with contemporary — the alley is a short entry to that face.