Oostakker Basilica

Oostakker (pronounced [ˈostɑkər]), formerly spelled Oostacker, is one of the smaller former municipalities which were merged into Ghent (from which it is only two miles), the capital of the Belgian province of East Flanders. The hamlet is mainly known for the Shrine of Oostakker, a Roman Catholic shrine of the Virgin Mary. Residents of Oostakker are called Oostakkezen.

The Campo Santo of Ghent, Belgium, is a famous Roman Catholic public burial ground in Sint-Amandsberg. The Campo Santo has been declared a historical monument by the government. This cemetery is located in the district of Dampoort.

The Groot Begijnhof Sint-Amandsberg is an eight-hectare beguinage in the Sint-Amandsberg suburb just outside the centre of the Belgian city of Ghent. It was built between 1873 and 1874 on the abandonment of the Old Saint Elisabeth Beguinage in the city centre. There is also a third beguinage in Ghent, that of Our-Lady Ter Hooyen.

Sint-Amandsberg is a sub-municipality of Ghent, Belgium. The municipality was formed in 1872 after splitting from Oostakker. It is served by the Bus and train station of Gent Dampoort on the Ghent Antwerp NMBS/SNCB line. During the First World War, on 7 June 1915, the German airschip LZ37 crashed after being destroyed by Reginald Warneford. A street was named Reginald Warnefordstraat on the spot where the airship crashed.

The Port of Ghent is the third busiest seaport in Belgium, located in Ghent, East Flanders in the Flemish Region. The first port of Ghent was situated at the river Scheldt and later on at the Leie. Since the Middle Ages Ghent has sought for a connection to the sea. In the 13th century via the Lieve canal to the Zwin near Damme, in the 16th century via the Sassevaart, in the 17th century via the Ghent–Bruges canal. Since the 19th century, the Ghent–Terneuzen Canal connects the port via the Western Scheldt to the North Sea. The port of Ghent is accessible by ships of the Panamax size, and in February 2015 the construction of a new lock at Terneuzen was announced, which will maintain near-parity with those of the Panama Canal expansion project.

Gent-Dampoort is the second largest railway station in Ghent, East Flanders, Belgium. The station opened on 15 June 1861 on the Lines 58 and 59. The train services are operated by NMBS/SNCB. The current building was built in 1973 by architects Dirk Servaes and Johan Beyne. The railway station is situated in the neighbourhood Dampoort in Ghent.

Dampoort is a neighbourhood in the city of Ghent in Belgium. Nowadays it is mainly known as the location of railway station Gent-Dampoort and a major crossroads. In former times it used to be the eastern gate of the city (poort being Dutch for "gate"). It opened the city towards the region of Waasland (or Land van Waas) and Antwerp. It is also where the commercial seaport of Ghent links with the inner-city canals. Close to the Dampoort is Portus Ganda, the yachting area of the city, which opened in 2005, at the former confluence of the rivers Schelde (English: Scheldt) and Leie. The Dampoort neighbourhood is characterised by a bustling mix of people from different origins: Turkish, Afghans, Eastern Europeans, native Belgians, Moroccan and practically any other nationality the city harbours.

The Spanjaardenkasteel ("Spaniards' Castle") was a castle in the city of Ghent in present-day Belgium. The castle was commissioned in 1540 by the Holy Roman Emperor and Spanish king Charles V after he crushed a rebellion by the city. The castle housed a garrison of about 2,500 men. The castle was eventually demolished in the 19th century.

Saint Bavo's Abbey (Dutch: Sint-Baafsabdij) is a former abbey in the currently Belgian city of Ghent. It was founded in the 7th century by Saint Amand, who also founded Saint Peter's Abbey, Ghent, near the confluence of the Leie and Scheldt rivers. Originally, the abbey was also called Ganda, a name of Celtic origin, meaning "river mouth", referring to the Leie river debouching into the Scheldt river. In the 9th century, the abbey was raided twice by Vikings, which made the monks flee to Laon. After an absence of nearly 50 years, they came back to Ghent and re-established the abbey. The German emperor Otto II saw the abbey as a strategical defense point on the Scheldt river (the former border between the Holy Roman Empire and West Francia) in his eternal conflict with Louis V of France. Saint Bavo Church in Aardenburg, Netherlands, was founded by monks of the abbey in 959. John of Gaunt, the fourth son of Edward III of England and father of Henry IV of England, was born in the abbey in 1340. Raphael de Mercatellis was abbot of the abbey from 1478, and used money from the abbey to commission lavish illuminated manuscripts.In 1540, Charles V ordered the destruction of the abbey. A coercion castle, with its cannons directed at Ghent, was built on the location of the abbey.

The Battle of the Lys (French: Bataille de la Lys, Dutch: Leieslag) was a major battle between Belgian and German forces during the German invasion of Belgium of 1940 and the final major battle fought by Belgian troops before their surrender on 28 May. The battle was the bloodiest of the 18 Days' Campaign. The battle was named after the Leie (French: Lys), the river at which the battlefield occurred.

The Lys (French pronunciation: ​[lis]) or Leie (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈlɛi̯ə] (listen)) is a river in France and Belgium, and a left-bank tributary of the Scheldt. Its source is in Pas-de-Calais, France, and it flows into the river Scheldt in Ghent, Belgium. Its total length is 202 kilometres (126 mi). Historically a very polluted river from the high population density and industrialisation in both Northern France and Belgium, it has seen substantial improvements in recent years, partly due to the decline of the principal industry, the spinning and weaving of flax. The region of the Leie (between Deinze and Ghent) was known as a favourite place for numerous painters in the first half of the 20th century. The source of the Lys is in a village, Lisbourg, east of Fruges, in the Pas-de-Calais department of France. It flows generally northeast through the following departments of France, provinces of Belgium and towns and municipalities: Pas-de-Calais (F): Thérouanne, Aire-sur-la-Lys Nord (F): Merville, Armentières, Halluin Hainaut (B): Comines-Warneton West Flanders (B): Menen, Wevelgem, Kortrijk, Waregem, Wervik East Flanders (B): Zulte, Deinze, GhentThe main tributaries of the Leie are, from source to mouth: Laquette, Clarence, Lawe, Deûle, Gaverbeek, Heulebeek, and Mandel.The river was the location of three battles between the Allies and the German Army. During the First World War in 1918 the location was the scene of the First Battle of the Lys, which was part of the German Spring Offensive and later that year of the Second Battle of the Lys, which was part of the Allies' Hundred Days Offensive. During the Second World War, the Battle of the Lys was part of the 1940 German offensive in Flanders towards the English Channel.

The Ghent Student Regatta is a boat race for students in April 2008 at Portus Ganda in the heart of historical Ghent in Dutch-speaking Flanders, Belgium, was 2008 a common initiative of Paul Van Cauwenberge, the Rector of Ghent University, in collaboration with Ghent Students Rowing the sports department of the City and Patrick Rombaut, Umpiring Commission Chairman of the Fédération Internationale des Sociétés d'Aviron (FISA). Rombaut started the Sprint idea at this location back in September 2007, where his regatta team of the annual May regatta of Ghent organised a race between the rowing teams of Christ Church Boat Club of Oxford University, Henley Rowing Club, a junior team of K.R. Club Gent/Royal Club Nautique de Gand and his own KR Sport Gent 1883 eight. The race was won in 1907 with the colours and blades of K.R.Sport Gent (Royal Sport Nautique de Gand = French name at that time) and they won again in 2007 in this 200m sprint. The idea came from the Mercedes Benz FISA World Rowing Sprints at Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park in London back in 2002. It was also a trial to bring rowing into city centers again. There are plans to continue with the enlarged version of the event every two or three years, in the same location.