The medieval vineyard
Real vines in a walled garden in the city.
Paul Hermans — CC BY-SA 3.0 · FrDr — CC BY-SA 4.0 · FrDr — CC BY-SA 4.0 · FrDr — CC BY-SA 4.0
St Peter's Abbey is among the oldest abbeys of Flanders — founded by St Amand in the seventh century on the Blandijnberg hill south of Ghent — and in the Middle Ages the region's richest and most powerful. What you see today is seventeenth-century baroque: a church with a huge Roman-style dome, the abbey's broad buildings around a courtyard, and a walled garden with a real vineyard — among the few survivors of Ghent's medieval vines. The visit combines the abbey (with the artistic "time machine" show on its history and an inventive audio guide led by a fictional "monk"), the quiet garden with its vines and fruit trees, and major temporary exhibitions held in its halls (historical and artistic, among Ghent's most important). The church itself (Sint-Pieterskerk) is free with its stunning dome. In the lively student quarter south of the centre (Sint-Pietersplein with its bars) — for the lover of religious history and exhibitions.
Real vines in a walled garden in the city.
A Roman-style church with a huge dome — free.
An inventive audio guide led by a fictional monk.
Sint-Pietersplein 9, 9000 Ghent
Museum of Fine Arts (MSK)Ghent's Museum of Fine Arts (MSK) is among Belgium's oldest museums (1798) and m6 minutes walk4.4
SMAK (Contemporary Art Museum)SMAK is Ghent's museum of contemporary art and among Belgium's most important — 7 minutes walk3.9
STAM (Ghent City Museum)STAM is Ghent's city museum in the fourteenth-century Bijloke abbey (with a refe9 minutes walk4.6
GUM, Ghent University Museum and Botanical GardenGhent University's museum, opened in 2020 with an unusual subject: not a particu9 minutes walk4.7
CitadelparkThe Citadelpark is Ghent's great park south of the centre, on the site of a Dutc10 minutes walk4.1For the lover of religious history, or if a major temporary exhibition is on (check — its shows are among Ghent's most important): yes. The garden with its vines is a lovely free break. Combine it with the student Sint-Pietersplein for lunch and the nearby STAM. For a short visit: the centre comes first.