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St. Michael’s Church. GHENT. 6. Route. 65
St. Michael’s Church e C, 4), a handsome Gothic edifice on
the other side of the Lys, v s becun in its present shape in 1440
but not completed till ie73 (tower unfinished), The §. side is
masked by a former Dominican convent.
The *Inrerior (restored 1890), where the red brick walls stand in
effective contrast with the white limestone window-frames and _ pillars,
contains some old altar-pieces and several dating from the first half of the
19th cent Arse. 2nd Chapel: Van Balen, Assumption. 3rd Chapel:
Vaenius, ‘of Lazarus. — The Pulpit by J. Franck (4816) rests on
the trunk of a fig-tree in marble; Christ healing a blind man forms the
princip oup below; e railings are of mahogany.
tT: Van Dyck’s celebrated but much damaged *Crucifixion
(‘Christ 4 1 Sponge’), painted in 1630 for the Fraternity of the Holy Cross
in Ghent. A man exter the sponge to the Saviour with a reed; John
and the Maries below, sels above.
CHoir. To pe ee : De Cray
Ath: Ph.
Van Bockho
, Assumption of St. Catharine,
Champaigne, Pope Gregory I.
Allegory, Moses and Aaron
ument, St. John a the Pope typical of the New.
s, Scourging of Christ. 10th: Th. van Thulden, Martyrdom of
dith: De Crayer, Descent of the Holy Ghost.
From St. Michael’s we proceed to the N., along the Quai aux
Blés or Koornleie, to the Pont aux Herbes or Grasbrug (Pl. CO, 4).
Beyond this bridge and adjoining the Marché-aux-Grains on the
N. lies the Mancué-aux-Licumes (Groenselmarkt; Pl. ©, 4), on the
left of which ri he former GRANDE BOUCHERIE (GrootV ‘leeschhuis),
erected in 140 The old chapel of the building contains traces
of a mural painting of 1448 (Nativity; freely restored). The iron
rings and collars on the exterior wall to the right are mementoes of
the public executions and tortures which formerly took place here.
The same association is commemorated in the name of a small ad-
jacent café, Café de la Potence or In’t Galgenhuis.
The members of the Ghent Guild of Butchers were known as ‘Prinse
Kinderen’ (Prince’s children), being the descendants of Charles V. and the
pretty daughter of a butcher, who secured for her son and his descend-
ants the sole right of slaughtering and selling meat in the city. The pri-
e was maintained down to 1794.
Crossing the bridge over the Lys we reach the quaint Puace
Sre, PHARAILDE (Pl. ¢ 4), the scene of executions in the 15-
15th cent., and during ‘the Inquisition period (1545-76) of the auto-
da-fés, The buildings here tisdg date from the 16-17th centuries.
The Gateway in the corner, erected in imitation of one on the same
site by Artus Quellin the Younger, which was burned down in 1872,
and adorned with sculptures by De Kese] (Neptune, the Scheldt,
and the L leads to the Marché-aux-Poissons (Pl. ©, 4), the
facade of which dates from 1690. — On the N. side of the Place,
at the corner of the Rue de la Monnaie, or Geldmunt, and washed
by the waters of the Lys, rises the —
*Chateau des Comtes de Flandre (’SGravensteen; Pl. O, 3), a
stronghold founded in the 9th cent., rebuilt in 4480 by Count Philip
of Alsace on his return from the Holy Land ‘ad reprimendam
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