Right, story time. Ghent in medieval times had the strange peculiarity of having two great and powerful abbeys at each other’s doorstep - the abbey of Saint-Bavo (a local saint), and the abbey of Saint-Peters. Both had been supported by the counts of Flanders, and they had great lands in their possession.

So, what do they do? They fight. They argue over who can claim to be the oldest abbey. They argue about the importance of their saints. They argue about the relics they possess, and the privileges they hold. They argue about churches.

For, while they were arguing, the city had grown, and the churches of the abbeys were not sufficient anymore for the population. Therefore, around 1100, the monks of Saint-Peter, decided to build a new church - the church of Saint-Nicholas (the closest building on the photo). This would be a clever investment, because it would draw the inhabitants of the populated quarter to that new church, and thus generate more income.

What was more, it would be a concurrence for the church of Saint-Jan, later the cathedral of Saint-Bavo (the third building on the picture). In reaction, the monks of Saint-Bavo build their own church, for Saint-Michiels (I have taken the picture on the bridge near that church, so basically, you have two churches and a cathedral within a five-minutes-walk).

Then we have the building pranged in the middle. It is not an ecclesiastic building, but it is an highly symbolic and important expression of the autonomy of the city, for the tower is the places where the privileges were kept. 

Now, I won’t bore you with an explanation about the genesis of cities, but you should know that without privileges, the city was not considered a city, and that the various cities vied for the most and greatest privileges. Such important documents had of course be stored well, so they build a high tower, in which Klokke Roeland was hung as well, the great storm clock, that would only ring in case of fire, war or plague (an important symbol of the city as well). It’s called the Belfort, by the way.