[=St. Amand= was the =apostle of Flanders= and the surrounding countries. He was sent by the pious king Dagobert to convert the Flemings _en bloc_, and is said to have built, about 630, a little cell by the bank of the Lys, N.E. of the modern city. In 651, =St. Bavon= entered this infant monastery, which henceforth took his name. The =abbey= grew to be one of the most important in Flanders, and occupied a large area on the N.E. of the town, near the Antwerp Gate. Eginhard, the biographer and son-in-law of Charlemagne, was abbot in the 9th century. The Counts of Flanders had rights of hospitality at St. Bavon’s; hence it was here, and not in the Oudeburg as usually stated, that Queen Philippa gave birth to John of Gaunt. In 1539, however, Charles V. that headstrong despot, angry at the continual resistance of his native town to his arbitrary wishes, dissolved the monastery in the high-handed fashion of the 16th century, in order to build a citadel on the spot. As compensation for disturbance to the injured saint, he transported the relics of St. Bavon to what was then the parish church of St. John, which has ever since borne the name of the local patron. Around the dismantled ruins, the Emperor erected a great fort, afterwards known as the Spaniards’ Castle, (_Château des Espagnols_, or Het Spanjaards Kasteel.) This gigantic citadel occupied a vast square space, still traceable in the shape of the modern streets; but no other relic of it now remains. The =ruins of the Abbey= are in themselves inconsiderable, but they are certainly picturesque and well worth a visit from those who are spending some days in Ghent. The hurried tourist may safely neglect them.] The direct route from the Place d’Armes to the =Abbey= is by the Quai du Bas Escaut, and the Rue Van Eyck. A pleasanter route, however, is by the Rue de Brabant and the Rue Digue de Brabant to the Place d’Artevelde, passing through the handsomest part of the modern town. (In the Place itself stands the fine modern Romanesque Church of St. Anne, the interior of which is sumptuously decorated in imitation of mosaic.) Thence, follow the Quai Porte aux Vaches to the Place Van Eyck. Cross the bridges over the Upper and Lower Schelde, and the Abbey lies straight in front of you.