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Bruges in Belgium is one of Europe’s old and rich trading centers, where the fine history of merchants and shipping has created a tourist gem in western Flanders. Here, Flemish urbanization has, over time, gone hand in hand with cultural and economic progress, and the result is so picturesque and interesting with loads of beautiful buildings.
The city’s central squares with Markt and Burg at the forefront are great places to enjoy the the spirit of centuries of architecture. Churches are located at the squares, where the town hall and other famous buildings have been built on the profits of the trade.
Among them is the bell tower Het Belfort, which with its octagonal top stands as a landmark for Bruges and symbolizes the wealth that existed in the city. Together with nearby Ghent and Antwerp, Bruges was one of Europe’s trading centers for centuries.
The access to the sea has been the city’s economic dynamo through trade with other parts of Europe and the world. Part of the access went through the canals that today give water to canal cruises. The tours provide access to many of Bruges beautiful places from a new angle and from the perspective that was the crunch behind the success of the merchants.
Bruges location in western Flanders is also a good starting point for visiting the other Flemish cities such as Ghent, Antwerp and Brussels, and it is also not far from the sea and Zeebrugge, the port city which has taken over after Bruges major trade through the ages. Here, the beaches also attract a lot of Belgians and tourists alike.
The Markt is one of Bruges’ central squares, and here are a number of beautiful buildings. The most striking building is the bell tower, Belfort, but there are also interesting constructions on the other three sides.
Opposite the Belfort is a row of typical 17th-century houses with jagged gables on the Markt’s north side. On the eastern side of the square is the beautiful provincial government building for the West-Vlaanderen region; Provincial Court. The building was constructed from 1887, and on one side of it is the red stone house, which was completed in 1891 as a new post office.
On the other side of the Provinciaal Hof is a gray stone building with archways on the two lower floors and a tower. It was built 1910-1914 and was originally intended for a role as a governor’s residence. Today, the prestigious city history museum Historium is located on the site, and in it you get through, among other things, Bruges’ docks and canals, lichen, merchants and art.
In the middle of the Markt stands a statue of Jan Breydel and Pieter de Conick, who were leaders of the resistance with the French troops in 1302. The statue was erected in 1887.
Heilig-Bloedsbasiliek is a Roman Catholic basilica that was originally built in the years 1134-1157 as a chapel for the residence of the Counts of Flanders, Oud Steen, which was the first of the Counts’ residences in the city.
Count Didrik of Alsace went on several pilgrimages to the Holy Land in the 12th century, and he brought the relic of the holy blood home to Bruges in 1150 after the Second Crusade. The blood has since then been stored in the chapel.
The Heilig-Bloedsbasiliek consists of two chapels. The lower one is in Romanesque style and is dedicated to Basil the Great, while the upper one is Gothic. It is in the upper chapel that the relic of the Holy Blood is found. Between the chapels runs the beautiful staircase De Steegheere, which was built in late Gothic and Renaissance 1529-1533.
The Holy Blood is said to have come to the city in 1150, but possibly only after the sack of Constantinople in 1204. It was during the Fourth Crusade that Count Baldwin IX, who was also Latin Emperor Baldwin I, had his armies in battle. The glass containing the bloody cloth is Byzantine and has never been opened since it came to Bruges.
Het Belfort is Bruges’ landmark and famous bell tower, from which many tourists enjoy an excellent view. The tower was then also used in history as a lookout to detect fires or other dangers in as good a time as possible.
The Het Belfort was first built in 1240, and at that time it contained the city’s archives. However, a fire in 1280 destroyed the archives, and the tower had to be rebuilt. The octagonal top of the tower was built in the years 1482-1486, and a wooden spire was erected on top. In 1493, a lightning strike destroyed the wooden spire, and a newly installed one was destroyed in 1741. Since then, it has not been rebuilt and thus the height of the tower is 83 meters.
The street-level building of which Belfort is a part is a former market building named Lakenhalle. It measures 44×84 meters in ground plan and was once connected to the water by a canal. In this way, the clothes that were traded here could be quickly and easily transported here.
The Burg square, together with the Markt, are the central squares in Bruges, and at the Burg you can experience the unique fact that the buildings around each date from different centuries.
Burg’s history and name come from a castle that used to be located here. The castle was built in the 9th century and was surrounded by walls and gates.
Bruges’ town hall was built in late Gothic style. It was built in the period 1376-1420 and thus belongs among the oldest in the Netherlands. The house continues to function as the seat of the city’s administration, and there is access to the beautiful Gothic hall, Gotische Zaal, where there are, among other things, a number of wall paintings from the 18th century.
Canals criss-cross Bruges’ old town, and the city’s ring canal runs all the way around the quarter. In many places you can get on a canal cruise, which is almost a must try during a visit to the city, whose appearance from the water side is unforgettable. A trip usually lasts 30 minutes.
The Church of Our Lady of Bruges was built during the 13th and 15th centuries. The imposing church tower dominates and reaches a height of 122.3 meters, making it the city’s tallest building. The tower was completed around 1320 and is the world’s second tallest church tower built of brick. Only the Martinskirche in Landshut, Germany, surpasses it.
The church’s greatest treasure is a marble sculpture of the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus, which was done by Michelangelo around the year 1500. It is believed that the sculpture was prepared for the cathedral in Siena, but a couple of merchants from Bruges bought it, and since 1514 it has stood on its present square with two exceptions, where French and German troops had looted the church in 1794 and 1944 respectively.
Also worth seeing are the beautiful tombs of Charles the Bold, who died in battle in 1477 as the last Duke of Burgundy, and his daughter Marie the Rich of Burgundy, who married Archduke Maximilian of Austria. They are elegantly placed centrally in front of the altar.
The Beguinage is a real breath-taking spot and one of Bruges’ romantic spots. It consists of a series of low, harmonious buildings that are built around a lawn, and with sprouting trees and flowers, the experience is top notch.
Flanders and the Netherlands are famous for their beguine farms, where only women lived and could move to under special circumstances.
Brugse Vrije is the name of the council of men who in the 14th century ruled Bruges and the area around the city. The building on Burg square is the mansion where the council held its meetings. The highlight of Brugse Vrije’s interior is the 16th-century fireplace, which was made in honor of Emperor Karl V.
Around the center of Bruges, there used to be ramparts along the ring canal and city gates at the bridges that first entered the city. The fortifications were built in the 1300s and 1300s, and after their demolition, four city gates remain today.
In addition to the Kruispoort, the three other preserved gates are respectively the Gentporten/Gentpoort (Gentpoortstraat), the Smedeporten/Smedenpoort (Smedenstraat) and the Æselporten/Ezelpoort (Ezelpoort). If you want to take a closer look at the gates, you can, for example, start at Kruispoort and go around the city along the street along the ring canal.
The Poortersloge building stands in the quarter which in the Middle Ages was the center of Bruges’ largest trade across the river and sea. Its name comes from the Dutch term poorter.
The house was built between 1395 and 1417, and it served as a meeting place for the citizens of Bruges, among other things. The White Bear Brotherhood/Het Genootschap van de Witte Beer was also founded here, and in the decoration you can see a figure of a bear carrying a shield.
A fire ravaged Pootersloge in 1755, and the subsequent reconstructions and extensions with, for example, a neo-Gothic wing have meant that the place no longer stands as it did in the 15th century.
Ghent is a city with a past as one of Europe’s largest cities. It was once the center of Europe’s wool and textile trade, and there was a strong urbanization and industrialization early on. Together with the success of the merchants, it created tremendous wealth, which resulted in, for example, many of the beautiful buildings visitors can see in the city center today.
Cathedrals, churches, monasteries, squares, merchant residences and museums are located in large numbers between the canals in the old town which have retained its medieval character. The large buildings stands next to each other, and the city center is laid out nicely as a continuous open urban space.
Brussels is home to the European Parliament, for many, one of the symbols of the European Union, but the Belgian capital has so much else to offer from its long Flemish history. The city center is Grote Markt / Grand Place, which is considered one of the most beautiful squares in the world.
Only a few minutes walk from Grote Markt, you can see the figure Manneken Pis, the boy who continues to pee after many centuries. And in the old town center there are numerous sights in an easy walking distance from one place to another. Manneken Pis is by the way seen seasonally with different clothes and he always draws many tourists.
Antwerp is a Flemish metropolis that has become rich after centuries of large-scale trade with the whole world, and it can still be seen today with the city’s activity and busy port. With Antwerp’s strategically good location, it has developed into one of Europe’s largest port citys.
The city center is beautiful and characterized by the wealth that through time made the city’s commercial and religious buildings possible to build. Many areas have richly furnished houses with Grote Markt as the central square. When in town, it is just about exploring central Antwerp and enjoy the fine architecture and atmosphere here.
Steenstraat 15
inno.be
Noordzandstraat 57-63
zilverpandbrugge.be
Steenstraat, Simon Stevinplein, Mariastraat, Zuidzandstraat, St.-Jakobsstraat, St.-Amandsstraat, Geldmuntstraat, Noordzandstraat, Smedenstraat, Vlamingstraat, Philipstockstraat, Academiestraat, Hoogstraat, Langestraat, Smedenstraat, Katelijnestraat, Gentpoortstraat
Speeldorp
Diksmuidestraat 5
speeldorp.be
Boudewijn Seapar
Debaeckestraat 12, Sint-Michiels
boudewijnseapark.be
De Toverplaneet
Legeweg 88, Sint-Andries
detoverplaneet.be
Modern Bruges takes its historical origin in a Gallic-Roman settlement at the beginning of our era. Already at this time the city was trading with England and the rest of Gaul. In the 700s, the trade spread to Scandinavia as well, and the city got its name from the Nordic name for a place of landing, a pier.
In the mid-800s, in addition to a castle, there were two parish churches and other buildings that constituted an actual city. The name of the brew is also found on coins from that time.
In the 800s, the Vikings were a threat, and this caused Count Balduin I of Flanders to strengthen the former Roman defenses, and both Bruges and the Flemish coastline were fortified at this time.
In spite of the threat from Scandinavia, trade increased in the following centuries, among other things, to England and precisely to the Viking homelands. The city was at this time one of the absolute centers of commerce.
Already from the mid-1000s, sanding had caused an increasingly difficult waterway from Bruges to the sea, and in the end this road was without the significance of the trade it had previously had.
Bruges gained market town rights on July 27, 1128, and new canals were dug and new city walls erected. Bruges was thus growing when a storm flood in 1134 changed the landscape on Bruges’s Flemish coast.
Zwin was formed as a new fjord with connection to the North Sea. Zwin stretched all the way to the town of Damme, a few kilometers from Bruges, which regained the important access to trade by sea.
During this time, Flemish wool and textile products were exported from Bruges to most of Europe. The widespread trade led to the establishment of a major banking and finance business in the city, and overall, Brugge was on the rise for the coming centuries.
In 1384 Bruges became subject to the united Burgundy and Flanders, and the city’s status as a trading center was preserved and expanded over the following hundred years.
The trade was developed in Bruges, seeking international relations. These included trade in Portuguese spice traders and textiles.
In the 1400s, Brugge was at its peak. In the central city, 40,000-45,000 inhabitants lived, and Bruges’ weaving and spinning mills were among the world’s leading.
With the sudden death of Mary of Burgundy in 1482, power came into her husband’s hands; it was the Austrian Archduke Maximilian. Against him a rebellion arose, which put political and military pressure on Bruges in the following years. It should prove to be the start of the city’s recession.
Bruges’ status as Flanders’s primary trading center gradually shifted to Antwerp, expanding on the basis of the easy trade along the river Schelde. Only a minor trade was maintained through Bruges in the following centuries, and by the end of the 1400s most trading houses had moved to precisely Antwerp.
In the 16th century, Zwin began to come true. The Fjord Canal was Bruges’ most important economic asset and a prerequisite for the trade that had been and continued to some extent. By the middle of the century, however, Zwin’s importance was so diminished that Bruges was a city in economic decline compared to the heyday when merchants from the north and south met here.
In 1584, Bruges and the region were divided from the Dutch Netherlands, reducing Bruges to a provincial city of no particular importance. The centuries passed and Brugge sought to maintain a certain maritime trade, and the city’s shipowners and merchants traded with the various European empires.
Initially, industrialization in Europe passed around Bruges, which was one of the country’s poorest cities in the mid-1800s, which was also reflected by the population. From at one time having attracted more than 100,000 citizens, the population dropped continuously to about 50,000 by the year 1900.
Already in the late 1800s, initiatives were initiated to reverse the development in Bruges, which was and is known for its art and culture, which has attracted countless tourists for many years.
However, the population and industry of Bruges remained at modest levels throughout the 20th century. The development in the area initially took place by the sea, which was also the driving force for success in the past.
In 1907, the city and the port of Zeebrugge were constructed as Bruges’ new port, and from this the city experienced serious growth in traffic and freight volumes in the late 1900s.
In addition, the golden age and past of great trade and the resulting wealth, as well as the arts and culture, have created the foundation for a continued tourism, which annually brings visitors from all over the world to the historic international city that has preserved its old city center.
Bruges, Belgium[/caption]
Overview of Bruges
Bruges in Belgium is one of Europe’s old and rich trading centers, where the fine history of merchants and shipping has created a tourist gem in western Flanders. Here, Flemish urbanization has, over time, gone hand in hand with cultural and economic progress, and the result is so picturesque and interesting with loads of beautiful buildings.
The city’s central squares with Markt and Burg at the forefront are great places to enjoy the the spirit of centuries of architecture. Churches are located at the squares, where the town hall and other famous buildings have been built on the profits of the trade.
Among them is the bell tower Het Belfort, which with its octagonal top stands as a landmark for Bruges and symbolizes the wealth that existed in the city. Together with nearby Ghent and Antwerp, Bruges was one of Europe’s trading centers for centuries.
About the Whitehorse travel guide
Contents: Tours in the city + tours in the surrounding area
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Author: Stig Albeck
Publisher: Vamados.com
Language: English
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The Burg square, together with the Markt, are the central squares in Bruges, and at the Burg you can experience the unique fact that the buildings around each date from different centuries.
Burg’s history and name come from a castle that used to be located here. The castle was built in the 9th century and was surrounded by walls and gates.
Bruges’ town hall was built in late Gothic style. It was built in the period 1376-1420 and thus belongs among the oldest in the Netherlands. The house continues to function as the seat of the city’s administration, and there is access to the beautiful Gothic hall, Gotische Zaal, where there are, among other things, a number of wall paintings from the 18th century.
Canals criss-cross Bruges’ old town, and the city’s ring canal runs all the way around the quarter. In many places you can get on a canal cruise, which is almost a must try during a visit to the city, whose appearance from the water side is unforgettable. A trip usually lasts 30 minutes.
The Church of Our Lady of Bruges was built during the 13th and 15th centuries. The imposing church tower dominates and reaches a height of 122.3 meters, making it the city’s tallest building. The tower was completed around 1320 and is the world’s second tallest church tower built of brick. Only the Martinskirche in Landshut, Germany, surpasses it.
The church’s greatest treasure is a marble sculpture of the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus, which was done by Michelangelo around the year 1500. It is believed that the sculpture was prepared for the cathedral in Siena, but a couple of merchants from Bruges bought it, and since 1514 it has stood on its present square with two exceptions, where French and German troops had looted the church in 1794 and 1944 respectively.
Also worth seeing are the beautiful tombs of Charles the Bold, who died in battle in 1477 as the last Duke of Burgundy, and his daughter Marie the Rich of Burgundy, who married Archduke Maximilian of Austria. They are elegantly placed centrally in front of the altar.
The Beguinage is a real breath-taking spot and one of Bruges’ romantic spots. It consists of a series of low, harmonious buildings that are built around a lawn, and with sprouting trees and flowers, the experience is top notch.
Flanders and the Netherlands are famous for their beguine farms, where only women lived and could move to under special circumstances.
Brugse Vrije is the name of the council of men who in the 14th century ruled Bruges and the area around the city. The building on Burg square is the mansion where the council held its meetings. The highlight of Brugse Vrije’s interior is the 16th-century fireplace, which was made in honor of Emperor Karl V.
Around the center of Bruges, there used to be ramparts along the ring canal and city gates at the bridges that first entered the city. The fortifications were built in the 1300s and 1300s, and after their demolition, four city gates remain today.
In addition to the Kruispoort, the three other preserved gates are respectively the Gentporten/Gentpoort (Gentpoortstraat), the Smedeporten/Smedenpoort (Smedenstraat) and the Æselporten/Ezelpoort (Ezelpoort). If you want to take a closer look at the gates, you can, for example, start at Kruispoort and go around the city along the street along the ring canal.
The Poortersloge building stands in the quarter which in the Middle Ages was the center of Bruges’ largest trade across the river and sea. Its name comes from the Dutch term poorter.
The house was built between 1395 and 1417, and it served as a meeting place for the citizens of Bruges, among other things. The White Bear Brotherhood/Het Genootschap van de Witte Beer was also founded here, and in the decoration you can see a figure of a bear carrying a shield.
A fire ravaged Pootersloge in 1755, and the subsequent reconstructions and extensions with, for example, a neo-Gothic wing have meant that the place no longer stands as it did in the 15th century.
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