The square is now open, the statue has been removed.

Built at the end of the 19th century after a design by architect Edmond De Vigne. The large sgraffito-painted tympanum is an allegorical tableau depicting Apollo and the Muses by Constant Montald. The architectural style of the theatre's interior is neo-Renaissance and eclecticism. The theater company in Ghent was dissolved after WWII and not reestablished until 1965 with the founding of NTG (Nederlands Toneel Gent/ Dutch Theater Ghent). The former name (1871-1945) was Koninklijke Nederlandse Schouwburg Gent (the Dutch Royal Theater, Ghent).