Holiday Destination: Bruges

Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country. The historic city centre is a prominent World Heritage Site of UNESCO. It is oval shaped and about 430 hec in size. The area of the whole city amounts to more than 13,840 hectares, including 1,075 hectares off the coast, at Zeebrugge. Along with a few other canal based northern cities, such as Amsterdam, it is sometimes referred to as The Venice of the North. Bruges has a significant economic importance thanks to its port. At one time, it was the chief commercial city of the world. With the reawakening of town life in the twelfth century, a wool market, a woollens weaving industry, and the market for cloth all profited from the shelter of city walls, where surpluses could be safely accumulated under the patronage of the counts of Flanders. Bruges was already included in the circuit of the Flemish cloth fairs at the beginning of the 13th century. The city's entrepreneurs reached out to make economic colonies of England and Scotland's wool producing districts.

Climate

Summer 21 °C (70 °F), Winter 9 °C (16 °F)

Tourist Season

Summer Season is best visiting Bruges.

Accommodation

Hotels and Apartments.

General Information Of Bruges

• Land Area: 53.44 sq mi (138.40 km2)
• Population: 1 Lakh.
• Capital City: Bruges.
• Language: English, Flemish and French.

Tourist Attraction in or Near by Bruges

Church of Our Lady

The Church of Our Lady in Bruges, Belgium, dates mainly from the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries. Its tower, at 122.3 meters in height, remains the tallest structure in the city and the second tallest brickwork tower in the world the tallest being the St. Martin's Church in Landshut, Germany. In the choir space behind the high altar are the tombs of Charles the Bold, last Valois Duke of Burgundy, and his daughter, the duchess Mary. Both are crowned, and Charles is represented in full armor and wearing the decoration of the Order of the Golden Fleece. The altarpiece of the large chapel in the southern aisle enshrines the most celebrated art treasure of the church a white marble sculpture of the Madonna and Child created by Michelangelo around 1504. Probably meant originally for Siena Cathedral, it was purchased in Italy by two Brugean merchants, the brothers Jan and Alexander Mouscron, and in 1514 donated to its present home.

Belfry of Bruges

Built during the 13th century and today one of the most famous of all the landmarks in Bruges, the Belfort now features on the World Heritage List and stands just over 80 metres. The views from the top of this clock bell tower are quite breathtaking, although many will find that climbing the 366 steps to the very top is quite a challenge and somewhat exhausting. Those who choose to climb the tower will find it more than worth the effort, passing numerous attractions along the way, such as the barred treasury and the 18th century carillon and its 47 bells, which are still played regularly by the Belfort's employed bell ringer.

Sint Salvator Cathedral

The Sint Salvator Cathedral is the cathedral of Bruges, Flanders, in present day Belgium. The Sint Salvator Cathedral is better known to tourists as simply the Cathedral of Bruges and is known to date from the 12th century, although it has origins as far back as the 10th century. During the 1840s, the tower was somewhat altered following fire damage. It was at this stage that the cathedral's tower was made considerably taller than that of the Church of Our Lady to raise the status of the building, and soon after, the church gained its cathedral status.

Basilica of the Holy Blood

The Basilica of the Holy Blood is a Roman Catholic minor basilica in Bruges, Belgium. Originally built in the 12th century as the chapel of the residence of the Count of Flanders, the church houses a venerated relic of the Holy Blood allegedly collected by Joseph of Arimathea and brought from the Holy Land by Thierry of Alsace, Count of Flanders. The 12th century basilica is located in the Burg square and consists of a lower and upper chapel. The lower chapel dedicated to St. Basil the Great is a dark Romanesque structure that remains virtually unchanged. The venerated relic is in the upper chapel, which was rebuilt in the Gothic style during the 16th century and renovated multiple times during the 19th century in Gothic Revival style.

Stadhuis

The oldest town hall in the whole of Belgium, the Bruges Stadhuis is arguably amongst the most beautiful. Construction of the Stadhuis commenced in 1376 and it was not until more than 40 years later that it was finally completed. This prominent local landmark boasts a Gothic stone exterior, decorated with many statues of noblemen from around Flanders. Step inside and you will find a number of rooms where members of the public are permitted. The main attractions within the Stadhuis is the Gothic Hall, which is located on the first floor, filled with medieval magnificence and still used today for numerous functions.

Béguinage

A béguinage or begijnhof 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 first béguinages were set up in the 12th century in what has subsequently become the French speaking part of Belgium. Béguinages are to be found in an area roughly corresponding with present-day Northern and North Eastern France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Western and North Western Germany.

Groeninge Museum

The Groeningemuseum is a municipal museum of Bruges, Belgium. It houses a comprehensive survey of six centuries of Flemish and Belgian painting, from Jan van Eyck to Marcel Broodthaers. The museum's many highlights include its collection of Flemish Primitive art, works by a wide range of Renaissance and Baroque masters, as well as a selection of paintings from the 18th and 19th century neo classical and realist periods, milestones of Belgian symbolism and modernism, masterpieces of Flemish expressionism and many items from the city's collection of post war modern art.

Old Saint Janshospitaalt

The Old St. John's Hospital is a building complex in the center of Bruges. The medieval hospital now serves as a museum the building, in the 19th century served as a hospital, that are widely used for exhibitions, events, congresses, etc. The medieval St. John's Hospital was once the largest urban setting for the sick, poor and needy. The brothers and sisters who worked there, did a lot of stories, artefacts and artworks after. These are still preserved in the same place. Furniture, paintings, sculpture and various applied arts are exhibited in a building on a history of 800 years can look back. A pharmacy with herb gardens and reference books on medicine make the collection off.

Gruuthuse Museum

The museum Gruuthuse, which was housed in a 15th century palace of the lords of the Gruuthuse Dijver, possesses the most varied collection of applied art or decorative art of Bruges from the 13th to the 19th century. One will find next to a large collection of statues, interesting Bruges tapestries and furniture, silver, tin, weapons, ceramics and musical instruments. One of the highlights is the infamous 18th century guillotine, up in the armory. The palace with several interior exudes a special atmosphere. Especially in the kitchen and in the original medieval prayer chapel, built in 1472, feel they are still in the late Middle Ages. The most famous resident of this monumental building was Louis of Gruuthuse.

Hof Bladelin

The Court Bladelin is a house in the city of Bruges in 1451 that was built by Pieter Bladelin. Pieter Bladelin was the counselor of Philip the Good and treasurer of the Order of the Golden Fleece. Inside the court, an arcade with two carved corbels on which the ribs rest. Alphege, who was kidnapped by the Vikings in 1011, refused to pay the ransom that his captors wanted, because this is the funds for the poor would have been exhausted. He was eventually killed by the Normans, who pelted him with bones of animals during an orgy in 1012. Bladelin was one of the richest people in the Burgundian Netherlands and in 1448 began he and his wife Margaret of Vagewierre an ambitious project to create a new city, Middelburg, on reclaimed land northeast of Bruges. That year Bladelin built a castle and just six years later the city was completed.

Accessibility

Bus Terminal

Brugge Jan Van Eyckplein

Jan van Eyckplein 12
Bruges, Belgium

Brugge Kipstraat

Brugge Kipstraat
Bruges, Belgium

Brugge Sint-Jansplein

Brugge Sint-Jansplein
Bruges, Belgium

Airports

Ostend Bruges International Airport: For International flight.

Brussels Airport: For International and Domestic flight.

Railway Stations

Station Brugge

Brugge 8000
Bruges, Belgium

Zeebrugge Station

Zeebrugge
Bruges, Belgium

Station Brugge-Sint-Pieters

Brugge
Bruges, Belgium