Korenmarkt

The Korenmarkt is defined by the high, blackened spire of Saint Nicholas Church rising over a square lined with grand nineteenth-century facades. For centuries, this was the city's commercial heart, where grain traders unloaded boats from the Leie River. In nineteen oh two, a city architect named Adolphus Pauli decided the area needed a new aesthetic and ordered the demolition of medieval houses to create the open plaza you see. He replaced them with the ornate, diverse storefronts that remain today.