This church is a very iconic part of the city of Ghent and a very important heritage piece of the Ghentians. This church was made by initiative of the Sint Pieters Abbey, a bit in competition with the Sint Baafs Abbey, who built the Sint Baafscathedraal near the Sint Niklaaskerk. Thid church is a good example of Schelde Gothiek. A Gothic style that was used in the areas near rhe Schelde river. This church was partially built for the boatmen of the Schelde and the Leie rivers who, back in the day believed in alot of the superstitions of the sea, like fear of seamonsters etc. So with the building of this Church they had a praying place before going on a sea journey because Saint Nicolas is the patronsaint of the seamen, bakers, merchants, etc. Ghent was also a big economic city of the time with alot of merchants and bussiness going on on the Korenmarkt. Ghent also had a big grain import from the countryside. You could translate 'Korenmarkt' in 'grain market'. Ghent had alot grain warehouses. This church was never finished. parts broke down and were burnt off in the making of this church. The church suffers from instabilities (it is safe to go inside) in the walls and pillars and they are being worked on since a very long time. The inside of the churche is very beautiful where you can see the efforts and attempts to maintain the church next to the beautiful catholic decorations.