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Ghent of all ages, able to witness a religious tradition with its monumental masterpiece, «The Mystical Lamb» of the Van Eyck brothers, enjoys an excellent gastronomic tradition with its Ghent specialties. It is also the vegetarian capital of Europe with a very intense cultural life.
Ghent does not end up reinventing itself to assert itself as artistic center and Flemish events. It has a Quarter of Arts and important museums of Fine Arts, Contemporary Art, City and Design.
The Museum of Design is hidden behind an eighteenth-century Rococo façade, the Hotel de Coninck. This modern and luminous building stands on several floors with large bay windows. Originally created by a group of notables and art lovers under the name of Museum of Models, it was then a small collection of Art Deco furniture and a collection of textiles. Following the Universal Exhibition in 1913, the Museum was transferred to the presently redesigned and trans- formed building in 1992.
Now it offers its visitors one of the finest collections of Art Nouveau from all over Belgium. Works by famous artists such as Henry Van de Velde and Victor Horta rub shoulders with a col- lection of applied arts from the interwar period and a vast collection of 20th century designers. Next to these beautiful signatures, one discovers contemporary works of Belgian and Italian artists of the years ‘70-80, jewels, furniture, and ceramics.
From March 31st, the Ghent Design Museum will dedicate a temporary exhibition, «Plain / Purl», to the condition of textiles in design, art, fashion and architecture, an ambitious project that will succeed the exhibition «Hands on Design».
Thousand and one reasons to discover the wonders of this singularly creative city and to nourish beauties literally as well as figuratively...
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