Belgium · 2 PLACES TO EXPLORE

A little more
of Gent.

Find places to visit in Gent. See what catches your eye, then save a few favorites for your trip.

Gent · BE

Dulle Griet

Parked on a tiny cobbled square at the edge of Ghent's old town, the Dulle Griet is one of the largest medieval cannons to survive from Western Europe: a 5-metre, 12-tonne monster of hand-forged wrought iron, painted a defiant red. Made for the Dukes of Burgundy in the 15th century and dragged into action against the rival city of Oudenaarde, this is the gun the locals nicknamed the 'Red Devil'—and it has been a landmark and a symbol of Ghent's stubborn civic pride ever since. It costs nothing to see, stands in the open day and night, and rewards a close look: the Burgundian cross and firesteels around its touch-hole, the carved stone cannonball at its muzzle, and the story etched into every iron hoop. Pair it with a stop at the legendary beer café nearby and you have a satisfying ten-minute detour in the heart of the city.

Local history museum

Gent · BE

STAM - Ghent City Museum

STAM – Ghent City Museum is the place where the story of Ghent is told in full, from a small settlement between two rivers to a medieval metropolis and today's lively city of students, commerce and culture. Housed on the historic Bijloke site at Godshuizenlaan 2, it pairs a striking glass-fronted contemporary entrance with the vaulted rooms of a 14th-century Cistercian abbey, so the building itself becomes part of the exhibit. Its permanent exhibition, 'The Story of Ghent', runs as a chronological circuit through six museum rooms, weaving together more than three hundred evocative collection pieces and multimedia displays. The undisputed crowd-pleaser is a gigantic aerial photograph of the city laid out as a floor you can actually walk across. If you want to understand Ghent before you explore its cobbled centre, this is the ideal starting point.

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Belgium · 2 PLACES TO EXPLORE

A little more
of Gent.

Find places to visit in Gent. See what catches your eye, then save a few favorites for your trip.

Monument

Gent · BE

Dulle Griet

Parked on a tiny cobbled square at the edge of Ghent's old town, the Dulle Griet is one of the largest medieval cannons to survive from Western Europe: a 5-metre, 12-tonne monster of hand-forged wrought iron, painted a defiant red. Made for the Dukes of Burgundy in the 15th century and dragged into action against the rival city of Oudenaarde, this is the gun the locals nicknamed the 'Red Devil'—and it has been a landmark and a symbol of Ghent's stubborn civic pride ever since. It costs nothing to see, stands in the open day and night, and rewards a close look: the Burgundian cross and firesteels around its touch-hole, the carved stone cannonball at its muzzle, and the story etched into every iron hoop. Pair it with a stop at the legendary beer café nearby and you have a satisfying ten-minute detour in the heart of the city.

Local history museum

Gent · BE

STAM - Ghent City Museum

STAM – Ghent City Museum is the place where the story of Ghent is told in full, from a small settlement between two rivers to a medieval metropolis and today's lively city of students, commerce and culture. Housed on the historic Bijloke site at Godshuizenlaan 2, it pairs a striking glass-fronted contemporary entrance with the vaulted rooms of a 14th-century Cistercian abbey, so the building itself becomes part of the exhibit. Its permanent exhibition, 'The Story of Ghent', runs as a chronological circuit through six museum rooms, weaving together more than three hundred evocative collection pieces and multimedia displays. The undisputed crowd-pleaser is a gigantic aerial photograph of the city laid out as a floor you can actually walk across. If you want to understand Ghent before you explore its cobbled centre, this is the ideal starting point.