Rabot

The Rabot is a famous monument in Ghent and also the name of the neighborhood where this monument is located. At the site of the building, there used to be a rabot in the Lieve canal. Over the years, the name was transferred to the towers that were supposed to defend this rabot. During the Flemish uprising against Maximilian, Habsburg troops besieged Ghent in 1488. They had to withdraw, and in triumph, the citizens of Ghent erected the monumental rabot towers on the site where they had been camped. By 1491, the construction of the Rabot was completed. It was a fortified sluice at the intersection of the Lieve with the city moat. The Lieve in turn provided the connection to the – not yet silted up – Zwin and further to the sea. After Maximilian's victory in 1492, he ordered that the citizens of Ghent demolish the rabot towers as punishment and use the stones to build a stronghold in the Prinsenhof. They refused to do this and managed to renegotiate the punishment into a heavy fine.

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