Christ Carrying the Cross
Bosch's demonic faces around Christ — an unforgettable painting.
Paul Hermans — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Gargarapalvin — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Gargarapalvin — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Gargarapalvin — CC BY-SA 4.0
Ghent's Museum of Fine Arts (MSK) is among Belgium's oldest museums (1798) and most beautifully displayed: a bright neoclassical building in the Citadelpark showing six centuries of art from the Middle Ages to the mid-twentieth century in calm rooms that rarely crowd — and where Van Eyck's Ghent Altarpiece was restored before the public for years in a glass laboratory. Its treasures: two Hieronymus Bosch paintings ("Christ Carrying the Cross" with its terrifying demonic faces, and "St Jerome"), Rubens, Van Dyck and Jordaens, Ghent's nineteenth-century painters, a large James Ensor collection with his strange masks, Symbolism (Khnopff), Flemish Expressionism (Permeke) and Magritte. A museum you walk through in serenity among first-rate works. Opposite SMAK for contemporary art in the same park — the two together make a full art day south of the centre. Closed Mondays.
Bosch's demonic faces around Christ — an unforgettable painting.
Belgian strangeness in one of his largest collections.
Six centuries without crowds in a bright building.
Fernand Scribedreef 3, 9000 Ghent
SMAK (Contemporary Art Museum)SMAK is Ghent's museum of contemporary art and among Belgium's most important — 2 minutes walk3.9
GUM, Ghent University Museum and Botanical GardenGhent University's museum, opened in 2020 with an unusual subject: not a particu2 minutes walk4.7
CitadelparkThe Citadelpark is Ghent's great park south of the centre, on the site of a Dutc5 minutes walk4.1
St Peter's AbbeySt Peter's Abbey is among the oldest abbeys of Flanders — founded by St Amand in6 minutes walk4.5
STAM (Ghent City Museum)STAM is Ghent's city museum in the fourteenth-century Bijloke abbey (with a refe10 minutes walk4.6Facing each other in the park: MSK for classical and modern art to 1950 (Bosch, Rubens, Ensor) — the first choice for most visitors; SMAK for contemporary art (post-1945) with bold changing exhibitions — for the contemporary lover. A full day: both with lunch in the park. Short on time: MSK.