This morning’s city walk was delightful – Bruges did not seem very crowded for a medieval European city. The rain stayed away; the city tour guide was amusing.
From the 13th to the 15th centuries, Bruges was the most important trading center of northern Europe, based largely on its thriving wool and textile industries. There are signs of this mercantile history in the beautiful houses built by wealthy textile merchants.
Still defined by its lovely old canals, which divide the city into quiet, intimate spaces, Bruges invites visitors to imagine its history with every step.
Church of Our Lady
The brick tower of the Church of Our Lady is a city landmark. We weren’t able to go inside to see Michelangelo’s Madonna, which was purchased by the Mouscron brothers, wealthy cloth merchants of Bruges, in 1504. The photo is of a banner displayed outside the church. The statue was seized by the Nazis and hidden in a salt mine in Austria during World War II. The story of its recovery is shown in the film The Monuments Men (2014).
We were able to stroll through the grounds, including the centuries-old orchard. While we were strolling, our guide told us a story: In the 15th-16th centuries, people didn’t know how to check effectively to be sure someone wasn’t in a coma instead of dead. Also, people were buried very quickly. There were a few tales circulating about people who had woken up in a coffin underground, and people were terrified of being the victim of a premature burial. One influential parishoner arranged to be buried, when the time came, with a string inserted into the coffin that he could pull to ring a bell in the church . . . so he could be saved by the bell!
Walking on . . .
We continued our tour, including the Halve Maan (half moon) brewery, established in 1546. When the brewery was confronted with the damage its heavy trucks were doing to the city’s historic cobblestones, the owners found a creative solution. They constructed a beer pipeline to carry the beer out of the historic old city to its bottling plant. We enjoyed the city shop windows and stopped to admire the outdoor map of Bruges woven of Belgian lace before stepping into our red canal boat for a tour of the watery “streets” of the city.
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