Ghents Medieval Canvas Art Power and Rebellion

Start your walk at the St. Bavo's Cathedral in Ghent. Just open the app nearby to begin exploring this 89-meter Gothic mountain that has survived iconoclastic mobs, the baptism of emperors, and the world’s most stubbornly unsolved art heist.

Look up at the Ghent Belfry, a 91-meter medieval middle finger to feudal lords topped with a gilded dragon that has spent seven centuries watching the city’s economic engine stall and restart.

Behold the Ghent Town Hall, a masterpiece of architectural schizophrenia where flamboyant Gothic lace crashes head-first into the sober, mathematical ego of the Italian Renaissance.

Nicholas Church, the blue-collar cathedral of the skyline that doubled as a city watchtower so the local merchants could keep one eye on God and the other on their grain shipments.

Stand atop St. Michael's Bridge, the city’s definitive grandstand where you can see the "holy trinity" of towers in one frame while a bronze Archangel Michael finishes off a dragon at your feet.

Stare down the Gravensteen Castle, a Crusader-inspired clenched fist of stone that has functioned as a count’s residence, a grim prison, and the site of a 1949 student uprising over the price of beer.

Meet the Dulle Griet Cannon, a 12,000-kilogram Mad Meg that was painted terrifying crimson to scare off enemies but ended up spending most of its life as a very expensive neighborhood trash bin.

Survey the Vrijdagmarkt, a massive square where eight centuries of commerce and bloody riots played out under the watchful eye of a weather-vane mermaid and a statue of a man pointing vaguely toward England.

Take a moment to enjoy the view of this ever-shifting "tolerance zone" where the city's history is rewritten in spray paint every few hours before ending your tour.