THE CATHEDRAL, GHENT. 
Among the churches in the city of Ghent, the Cathedral, formerly dedicated 
to St. John the Baptist, and afterwards to St. Bavon, is the most distinguished 
for its magnificence and size, and for the elegance of its tower. It is recorded to 
have been first dedicated in 941, by Bishop Transmarus. It was subsequently 
enlarged and beautified by Counts Baldwin and Arnulphus, by Gerard Vilanus, 
and others. Great additions were made by order of the Senate in 1228 and 1274. 
The Pronaos was added in the reign of the Emperor Charles V. The foundation 
of the tower was laid 26th May, 1462, and the cross placed on it in 1535, by 
John Somer, an architect of Ghent. Chapters of the Golden Fleece were held 
here; the first in 1445, by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, the founder of 
the order; the second in 1559, by Philip II. King of Spain, whose father, the 
Emperor Charles V, was christened in this Cathedral, in the year 1500. John of 
Gaunt (properly of Gand, i. e. Ghent) Duke of Lancaster, son of Edward III. 
King of England, was born in the Monastery of St. Bavon, in the year 1341. 
This Monastery of St. Bavon was pulled down by order of the Emperor Charles V. 
the ground being wanted for the Citadel, which he caused to be built; the abbot 
and monks were therefore removed to the Church of St. John the Baptist, which 
was the occasion of its being called the Church of St. Bavon. Many sovereigns, 
and a vast number of eminent men, have been interred in this Church, which was 
formerly adorned with extraordinary splendor. Among the paintings was one by 
John and Hubert Van Eyck, representing the Triumph of the Lamb, which, as 
Sander says, “ prce omnibus micat, velut inter ignes Luna minores. There are also 
several fine paintings by Rubens; but many of its treasures have disappeared 
in the lapse of time, and in the ravages of revolution and war.