Gabled mansions along Kraanlei in Ghent.
Although many people go to Ghent purely to see the spellbinding Mystic Lamb by Flemish Primitive artist Jan van Eyck in the Sint-Baafskathedraal (St. Bavo’s Cathedral), there are some exceedingly good museums in this stylish Flemish city, which is fast on the up. Here are my recommendations for the five best museums in Ghent.
Visits to Ghent are often combined with trips to Antwerp or Bruges, two other Flemish cities with enormous pulling power for their stellar architecture and the high standard of their art museums.
The Design Museum Gent
Located in a multi-gabled Ghent mansion with a modern extension grafted on to the rear, the Design Museum Gent showcases the very best in international design. The old wing showcases period apartments decked out in aristocratic 18th- and 19th-century Flemish style. However it is the bright, light-filled new wing that thrills, with superb examples of Art Nouveau furniture by Paul Hankar and Victor Horta plus 20th and early-21st century classics such as Alessi silverware, plastic stools in by Bar und Knell Design and bizarrely shaped seating by Richard Gehry.
Het Huis van Alijn (House of Alijn)
Ghent’s folklore museum takes visitors on a journey through 20th-century Flemish life but confusingly is found in the city’s only remaining medieval almshouses, which date right back to the 12th century. Inside the clutch of whitewashed, gabled and restored cottages are replicas of Ghent weaving and metalwork workshops as well as interiors of sweet shops and bakers, but the most fascinating rooms are those dating from the 1950s and 1980s. One long corridor features flickering home movies showing every-day Flemish folk going about their lives.
Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent (Ghent Fine Arts Museum)
Ghent’s fine-arts museum in Citadelpark has been wonderfully renovated with stark white galleries showcasing the work beautifully. It traces the story of Belgian art from medieval Byzantine religious art to modern day, featuring works by the Flemish Primitives Bosch and Rubens, plus portraits by Van Dyck and late-19th-century paintings from Belgian artists James Ensor and Theo van Rysselberghe.
Stadsmuseum van Gent (Ghent City Museum)
STAM serves up a mini introduction to Ghent, telling the city’s backstory from medieval times to present day. It’s housed in a strange exhibition space that incorporates 14th-century Bijloke Abbey and its gardens, before leading into contemporary galleries with chronological displays utilizing multimedia exhibits, archeological finds, artwork and photographs.
Stedelijk Musuem voor Actuele Kunst Gent (Museum of Contemporary Art)
SMAK is Ghent’s primary attraction for contemporary art buffs, near Ghent Fine Arts Museum in Citadelpark. The permanent collection contains sublime works by CoBrA artists and international heavyweights Andy Warhol and Christo, but the (often very weird) temporary exhibits of Europe’s leading contemporary artists are not always as satisfying; check ahead to see what’s on.
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