Prinsenhof (Ghent)

The Prince's ( nl. Prinsenhof ) is a historical region in Ghent, created by the buildings around the former Hof ten Walle ( yard to Walle ), the birthplace of Emperor Charles V ( born February 24, 1500), also known as the Prince's will. The environment is currently performing mainly a residential function.

The courtyard to Walle

The farm was built in the middle of the Walle 14th century as a luxury residence for the Italian financier and politician Simon de Mirabello. Later, the farm grew to the residence of the Counts of Flanders. The courtyard to the Walle was the scene of festive feed of the later Emperor Maximilian I with his bride Mary of Burgundy in August 1477th Previously it was one of the most respected places of the Dukes of Burgundy.

The farm is now entirely disappeared, except for the north portal, now called the dark Portälchen ( Donkere Poortje ). In the Prince's there was also a (now inaccessible ) Löwenhof ( Leeuwenhof ), which indicates a zoo which already existed in the 14th century here. 1360 killed an escaped lion three people. A number of lions that have been paid by the Bey of Tunis to the Emperor Charles V., have also been brought into the Court Of Lions. The zoo remained until the 17th century. 1650 Tiergarten Carmelites is converted into a monastery garden. The large bow door of the tabernacle of the Barons Bethune (1821-1894) in the Prinsenhofstraat is a remnant of the outbuildings of the old Court's Walle.

The Prinzenhofumgebung

The area extends from the Rabot to the Grave Steen, with the Lieve as natural eastern border and the castle and the Rabotstraat as southern and western boundary.

When Silberhof connects the " Brug the Geneugten " or Kaiser Charles Bridge ( designed by the folk singer - sculptor Walter de Buck ) the area by St. Antoniuskai. From the curious bridge over the Lievekanal one has a magnificent view of the Rabot and the Augustinian monastery.

In the Abrahamsstraat is the ' Mountain of Mercy ' ( Berg van Barmhartigheid / Mons Pietatis ), a building from the 17th century in which the Ghent city archive was housed until recently, but which now moved into the ' Zwarte Doos ' to Ghent Brugge.

Every year on the first weekend of September, the Prince court festivities take place, a colorful life among others with the most buzz of all market Ghent.

The building named ' Mountain van Barmhartigheid '

De Lieve with the Augustinian monastery left and right of the Lievekai

The Prince's Court in the 16th century, as part of a model in Museum De Wereld van Kina