In Bruges - Flemish masters, a hospital and a boat trip

Friday 13 June 2025

We got up promptly today to beat the tourists to the beautiful bridge by Gruuthusemuseum. 

Then found a lovely breakfast spot.

We visited the Groeningemuseum which was a 'must do' on JC's list.  The museum had a temporary exhibition showcasing prayer books, called 'The Book of Hours'.  They were essentially prayer books, guiding your supplications through the liturgical calendar with prayers for every three hours of the day.  The canonical hours are: Matins (night time), Lauds (early morning), Prime (first hour of daylight), Terce (third hour), Sext (noon), None (ninth hour), Vespers (sunset evening) and Compline (end of the day).  You were allowed to sleep through the Lauds if you doubled up at Prime.  

Into the museum proper, we were surrounded by paintings from six centuries of Flemish painters including many of the Flemish old masters. The Flemish masters set the artist tone for Western Europe, for over 250 years, from the 15th Century into the 17th Century.  Some of the most famous, such as Jan van Eyck and Pieter Bruegel have their paintings exhibited here. 

This is Antonius Caessians, from the 17th Century "Mars surrounded by art and sciences banishes ignorance" (if only that worked today).  It incorporated seven arts and sciences, such as grammar, geography, astronomy, arithmetic etc.

JC was quite taken by Gerard David's "Judgement of Cambyses".

He also into Surrealism, and loved this painting by the Belgian artist Paul Delvaux - "Serenidad". His favourite artist is Hieronymus Bosch - this is "The Last Judgement".  Sadly for JC, his house mate isn't so keen, so unlikely to end up on the lounge wall.

I'm more of a fan of things like this Expressionist painting: Jean Brusselmans, "Grey Winter Landscape".  But I totally do not get abstract art.

Once we'd had our cultural fill, we headed for the Sint-Janshospitaal, Museum of St John's Hospital.  This hospital, built in the 12th Century, has been caring for the sick for centuries.  We stuck our head into the pharmacy first.

Then we visited the main wards.  The space is now used to house Flemish and contemporary art alongside information about how the hospital ran.  Apparently, if a patient was sent to hospital and they died, their clothes became the property of the hospital.  There were many a wealthy patient stripped by their family of their finery before being popped in the hospital's sedan chair/ambulance - just in case they didn't make it back.

Spare limb anyone?

It was finally boat time - when in a city with oodles of canals you just can't help yourself.  We took a tourist trip about the waters.  This was the lowest bridge we had to duck under.

Apart from the fact I need no excuse to get afloat, I love a different way to see a place.

 

After a couple of museums and a boat trip it was time to walk - and we headed north today.  It doesn't take long before there's a church to be found, although they are starting to merge into similar Gothic semblances.  This is Sint-Jakobskerk which has a mighty fine selection of paintings.

We found another gate, Elezpoort.  Sadly the gates have suffered over the years, but at least they've been well refurbished.

It was beer o-clock and I tested what I thought was a local beer, only to google it and find it was Canadian!  I shouldn't google so much.

Another great meal out beckoned and I found some knitted friends for a photo shoot.

 

In Bruges - orientation, bells and a wig

Wednesday 11 June 2025

Bruges - or Brugge in Flemish - was our second stop on the holiday.  Again, we'd picked accommodation smack beside a canal (our hotel is the first building on the right below).  This one had pretty ornate decor but a dodgy coffee machine and the room safe wasn't secured to the wall (not much point of it then?).

Wednesday evening was for strolling around orientating ourselves and we headed east from the centre.  Bruges is a UNESCO world heritage city, no doubt earning that title due to a savvy planning policy in the late 19th century that restricted development within the city centre to mirror the existing architectural style.  Many original Gothic buildings have been retained and, along with other authentic dwellings of period style, give the city a homogeneous architectural feel.

A lot of Ave Marias were installed on the corners of buildings.

We found the 4 surviving windmills on the eastern edge, and Kruispoort (Cross Gate), one of the four remaining gates surrounding the city.

Thursday 12 June 2025

As I often do in a new city, I like to get up high to get a feel for the place.  The place to do this was the Belfort (Belfry).  366 steps up a narrow stairway is always my idea of fun.

It contained a carillon which activated the bells - as the drum rotated, the pegs triggered a pulley which struck the bells above.  Each quarter of the hour is accompanied by a different tune and every year they change the complete repertoire by moving the pegs on the drum.   [Or I think that was the Ghent carillon, but you get the drift].

And, as you can't hear the bells on the clip above, here are the sweet bells.

The views were great!  And that's the way to Luxembourg, 296 km away.

Before climbing Belfort, we had bought a Musea Brugge card giving us access to up to 12 museums.  So we had to make the most of it as I hate not to use my museum allowance.

We explored the Gruuthusemuseum which had been the residence of Louis (or Lodewijk) van Gruuthuse in the 15th century, when Brugge was a buzzing commercial centre.  It showcases life in that period, for those who had the money.  

And they'd left a wig or two.

Then it was off to Burg Square where we spotted the Basilica of the Holy Blood was open.

 

Inside it's classic Gothic, with the addition of a long queue of catholics/tourists keen to have a quick glimpse of the holy blood.  Call me a sceptic, but I wasn't convinced it was worth the wait.  The Romanesque chapel downstairs was more pleasant.

We were following one of the Brugge city trails of sorts, but also veering off to find interesting sites as they cropped up.  It really is such a beautiful city.

We jostled through a crowd of tourists - they conveniently congregated in a region no more than a few hundred metres from the main drag - and wandered down to Oud Sint-Janshospitaal, St John's hospital.

We also found the local beer pipe which, at 3 km, is probably one of the longest pipes from brewery to the bottling factory.  It keeps the beer production in the heart of the city, but the tankers that distribute it can now remain beyond the city moat.

No beer for now, but a stroll down to Minnewaterpark (Lake of the Love Park) which was created to stop the city flooding. In the Middle Ages the waterway was part of the city's docks, but it was blocked to control the flow of water into the city, and the reservoir formed.

A very pleasant stroll towards the southerly edge of the city.  And that was Thursday.