Belgium · Flanders · Gent
Holy Corner, Gent — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Holy Corner is the English name for the Sint-Elisabethbegijnhof, a walled beguine town of Gent from 1234 whose brick houses still line the Begijnhofdries.
About Holy Corner
Where to stay in Holy Corner
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Beds are scarce inside the Sint-Elisabethbegijnhof, because the beguine houses went to poor tenants after 1874 rather than to innkeepers. Hotels cluster instead in the old core of Gent, just under a kilometre southeast of the Begijnhofdries, along the lanes around the Belfry of Ghent. The walk back runs up the Rabotstraat.
You get a beguine house on the Gravin Johannastraat and a lawn under lime trees at the door; you do not get a choice of hotels.
About Holy Corner
What are the main landmarks in Holy Corner?
The Begijnhofdries is the quarter's square, a lawn under lime trees. Its west end is shut by the Sint-Elisabethkerk, rebuilt as a hall church from 1636, raised again in 1682-1684, and reconsecrated in 1684. Anglicans have used it since January 2016.
The Huis van de grootjuffer at Begijnhofdries 42 was rebuilt after the fire of 1674 and became a city school in 1877. A Protestant congregation holds the Rabotkerk at Begijnhoflaan 31. The baroque gate of 1667 is gone from the Provenierstersstraat; pulled down in 1879, it was re-erected in 1926 at the Bijloke on the Godshuizenlaan, a kilometre south.
What is the history of Holy Corner?
Countess Joanna of Constantinople settled devout laywomen on marshy ground called het Broek about 1234, outside the first wall of Gent and under the church of Sint-Martinus in Ekkergem. The abbot of Sint-Baafs let them raise a chapel in 1242. Eighteen convents stood inside the moat.
Liberal city politics and the mills' hunger for cheap housing broke the enclosure up: the moat was filled about 1860, the Rabotstraat and Jan Verspeyenstraat were cut through in 1864, and on 29 September 1874 more than 600 beguines drove out to Sint-Amandsberg. Their houses went to poor tenants, the streets ran down, and the turn came from 1984.
Where is Holy Corner?
Holy Corner lies northwest of the old core of Gent, between the Begijnhoflaan and the Begijnengracht, with the Rabotstraat closing it against the Prinsenhof.
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Updated September 2026