The Campo Santo of

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, is a famous Roman Catholic public burial ground in

Sint-Amandsberg 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 Wor ...

. The Campo Santo has been declared an historical monument by the government. This cemetery is located in the district of Dampoort.

History

On top of the hill 19 m , the bishop Philips Erard van der Noot erected in 1720 a chapel, in baroques style in honour of Saint Amandus. The Roman Catholic bourgeoisie of Ghent favoured this place for important burials: almost all great Catholic families have their graves here. Sited at the top of a hill 19 meters high, it takes its name from the Roman original. The cemetery was opened on 8 December 1847 by Fr Jozef van Damme, the local parish priest. One of the first burials was that of Countess Marie de Hemptinne. As of 2016 this is still the burial place of famous Catholic artists, nobility and politicians from Ghent.

Famous burials

* Christine D'haen, poet and author * Filip De Pillecyn, man of letters * Jules de Saint-Genois (Jules Ludger, Baron de Saint-Genois des Mottes), archivist, writer and historian *

Luc De Vos Luc De Vos (12 July 1962 – 29 November 2014) was a Belgian musician and writer, best known as the lead singer of the Dutch-language alternative rock formation Gorki and as a guest in multiple television shows. He also voiced VW bus in the Flem ...

, musician, author and Ghent folk hero * Jan Grauls *

Joseph Guislain Joseph Guislain (Ghent, 2 February 1797 – Ghent, 1 April 1860) was a Belgian physician and a pioneer in psychiatry. Education Guislain started his medical studies at Ecole de Médicine and he was one of the first students to the University of Gh ...

, psychiatrist *

Corneille Heymans Corneille Jean François Heymans (28 March 1892 – 18 July 1968) was a Belgian physiologist. He studied at the Jesuit College of Saint Barbara and then at Ghent University, where he obtained a doctor's degree in 1920. Heymans won the Nobel Pri ...

Jan Hoet Knight Jan Hoet (; 23 June 1936 – 27 February 2014) was the Belgian founder of SMAK (''Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst'' or Municipal Museum for Contemporary Art) in Ghent, Belgium. Biography Jan Hoet was born in Leuven, Belgium. Throu ...

* Karel Lodewijk Ledeganck *

Wilfried Martens Wilfried Achiel Emma Martens (; 19 April 1936 – 9 October 2013) was a Belgian politician who served as prime minister of Belgium from 1979 to 1981 and from 1981 to 1992. A member of the Flemish Christian People's Party, during his premiership ...

Frans Masereel Frans Masereel (31 July 1889 – 3 January 1972) was a Flemish painter and graphic artist who worked mainly in France, known especially for his woodcuts focused on political and social issues, such as war and capitalism. He completed over ...

, sculptor * Louis Minard, builder * Lodewijk Roelandt *

Marc Sleen Marcel Honoree Nestor ( ridder) Neels (30 December 1922 – 6 November 2016), known as Marc Sleen, was a Belgian cartoonist. He was mostly known for his comic '' The Adventures of Nero and Co.'', but also created gag comics like '' Piet Fluwijn ...

, cartoonist * Leo Vindevogel *

Gustave van de Woestijne Gustave Van de Woestijne (; 2 August 1881 – 21 April 1947) was a Belgian expressionist painter. He belonged to the so-called "First Group of Latem", a group of artists who worked in the rural village of Sint-Martens-Latem on the banks ...

, artist *

Karel van de Woestijne Carolus Petrus Eduardus Maria "Karel" van de Woestijne (; Ghent, 10 March 1878 – Zwijnaarde, 24 August 1929) was a Flemish writer and brother of the painter Gustave van de Woestijne. He went to highschool at the ''Koninklijk Athenaeum'' (E:Roya ...

, author Not only are some of those who are buried here noteworthy, but also some of the gravestones are the works of famous sculptors or craftsmen such as

Jozef Geefs Joseph Germain Geefs or Jozef Germain Geefs (23 December 1808 – 9 October 1885) was a Belgian sculptor. Also his six brothers Guillaume Geefs, Aloys Geefs, Jean Geefs, Théodore Geefs, Charles Geefs and Alexandre Geefs were sculptors. ...

, Aloïs de Beule and Geo Verbanck. The Campo is thus also well known for its funerary heritage and architecture. 131 graves are protected and listed as valuable.

References

External links

Visit.gent.be

Inventaris
{{coord, 51.0645, 3.7498, type:landmark_region:BE, display=title Ghent Cemeteries in Belgium Catholicism in Belgium