The Alijn family home is a former shelter that now houses a folklore museum. At the exhibitions presented here you can get to know the everyday life of the inhabitants of Ghent. The exhibitions in the next rooms are a kind of time travel (arrangements use historical equipment), during which visitors can visit a pharmacy, an apartment from the 70s of the 20th century, a 19th-century school class or a hair salon.
In 1363, there was a bloody conflict between the feuding families of Alijn and Rijms. The Alijn family, having received considerable compensation, founded the House of God, a shelter, as a sign of peace. For his needs, in the years 1543-1546 a late Gothic chapel of St. Catherine. The building complex acquired its present form in the 16th century. It consists of sixteen three-room houses arranged around a rectangular courtyard.
Huis van Alijn is an unusual museum of folklore. It does not focus solely on the traditional craft, dress or customs of one ethnic group, but tries to show the whole, multicultural and multinational contemporary community of Ghent.
Attractions inside
