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Louis Paul Boon (1912-1979) wrote about the eventful social history of Aalst and its environs. The town where he was born and its history are his main sources of inspiration. His novels De Kapellekesbaan (Chapel Road) and Menuet (Minuet) are his most popular and most translated works for which he was also nominated for the Nobel Prize. Other literary works of Boon include: Zomer te Ter Muren, Mieke Maaike, De bende van Jan de Lichte and Daens. To honour him, Aalst erected a statue: "The Narrator". It embellishes the front garden of Town Museum 't Gasthuys. In his novels De Kapellekesbaan and Zomer te Ter Muren Louis Paul Boon describes the life of Ondineke, a sly working-class girl who will do anything to climb the social ladder. Town Museum 't Gasthuys contains a small statue of her. An exact copy can be found in the town hall's inner courtyard.
Built in 1261, only the original shape of the square with its small houses has been preserved. Ste Catherine’s church, dating from 1787, is a rare example of religious architecture in classic style. The church is now used by the Orthodox community. A béguinage is a collection of small buildings used by Beguines. These were various lay sisterhoods of the Roman Catholic Church, founded in the 13th century in the Low Countries, comprising religious women who sought to serve God without retiring from the world.
The Borse was built in 1630. It was erected in renaissance architecture with open gallery. The building was used as a hostelry along the old commercial route Lille – Amsterdam. You can wine and dine here in a stylish and pleasant setting.
Four rural villages of Aalst, namely Baardegem, Herdersem, Meldert, and Moorsel, together form the Faluintjes region. They are the green lungs of Aalst. The word "Faluintjes" is explained in different ways. According to some, it is a corruption of the French "vallée", the valley of the Molenbeek brook. Others recognise the French word "fallourdes", which means faggots. Did the monks make this swampy valley passable by using stacks of faggots? Or would it be a corruption of the Celtic "fallæn", the French "fallun" – "fallunière" or stone quarry? Whatever, the Faluintjes remains a linguistic mystery.
The central market square in Aalst or Grote Markt is a pleasant, yet stately square with several imposing monuments and various restaurants and pubs. It is the administrative, economic, and social heart of town. The belfry is a .
The bourgeoisie of the 19th century used the fronts of the former medieval bulwarks for building their mansions. The walls rendered in white are decorated with pillars and ornamental elements and, often, also with a balcony above the entrance gate. Here lived at the time the headmen of the conservative party and, particularly, many factory bosses who had their factories in their back garden. In 1997, the whole complex of mansions and rows of trees in the middle were protected as townscape. The statue of Queen Astrid, erected in 1938, and that of King Baudouin, dating from 1991, form the beginning and end of the row of trees.
The former coach house and orangery now holds a branch of the Aalst library. The castle gardens, measuring 2 hectares, still have their original pattern of roads and bulwarks and have been landscaped in country style. The gardens are open to the public, the castle is not.