BELGIUM ~ Gravensteen - Ghent ~

......Back to blogging after a few days not feeling so well ☹...and I start with two postcards from my own country coming from my dear postcard friend Johan...Belgium issued a few new stamps in March...and thanks to Johan I got two of them with special cancellations and matching postcards...this one is an impressing looking aerial view of the Gravensteen castle rising above its fortified walls in the city centre and the other one with our Royal Family... Many Thanks Johan!! ♥‿♥(check his blog: here! )

The Gravensteen is a castle in Ghent originating from the Middle Ages. The Castle was built in the late 12th century by the count Philip of Alsace. The word Gravensteen is Dutch and stands for "Castle of the Counts", so the castle was the seat of the counts of Flanders until the 14th century. The Counts of Flanders abandoned it in the 14th century and moved to a new residence. The castle was then used as a court house and later as a prison. By the end of the 19th century it was about to be destroyed but the city of Ghent opposed these plans, bought and renovated it. Today it hosts a torture museum.

Gravensteen is one of the biggest examples of a castle with moat in Europe and is situated at an altirude of 9 meters.

Stamp:

Ghent Marketplaces and Floraries -Townhall.
(Issued: 14-03-2016)

From a sheet showing five market places in the city with stamp value inside Belgium.
(Issued: 14-03-2016)