The Spell of Flanders: An Outline of the History, Legends and Art of Belgium's Famous Northern ProvincesVose, Edward Neville
History
The Spell of Flanders: An Outline of the History, Legends and Art of Belgium's Famous Northern Provinces
Vose, Edward Neville
Flanders -- Description and travel
According to the Royal Commission of Art and Archeology of Belgium,
Ghent contains more noteworthy antiquities than any other town in the
Kingdom. The Commission, it appears, divides the "antiquities" into
three classes, according to their relative importance, and credits
Ghent with thirteen of the first class, ten of the second and six of
the third--or twenty-nine in all. The figures for the other Flemish
cities are: Antwerp, seven first, five second, six third, total
eighteen; Bruges, four first, six second, six third, total sixteen;
Tournai, three first, six second, six third, total fifteen; Malines,
four first, eight second, two third, total fourteen. Many places are
credited with two or three each. We tried to get a copy of the Report
of the Commission giving the names of the antiquities in each class,
and the reasons for ranking them, but were unable to do so during our
stay in Belgium. It would have been a learned check on the list of
places we had found most interesting. Quite likely we would have found
that the Commission gave the first rank to some "antiquity" we did not
see at all, and maybe never heard of! However, we saw enough to occupy
every minute of our brief vacation, and the majority of those we
missed--wilfully at least--were churches, of which Flanders has enough
to fill three books like this were one to faithfully report them all.
In Ghent there are, as at Bruges, many interesting private houses
scattered throughout the city. The Professor and I on our morning
walks looked up many of these, but the list would be tedious to
enumerate. One of the most famous is the "Arriére-Faucille," formerly
the home of a rich seigneur, but since 1901 used as a Royal
Conservatory of Music. Its castle-like tower is very picturesque, but
we saw nothing of interest in the interior. Near by are two very old
houses with typically Flemish gables, called the Zwarte Moor and
the Groot Moor. Built in 1481, or thereabouts, the Confrerie of St.
George had its headquarters here for many years.
[Illustration: OLD GUILD HOUSES, QUAI AUX HERBES, GHENT.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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