Bruges Travel guide

Bruges (Brugge) - History

The history of Bruges begins around 2000 years ago. At that time there was a Gallic-Roman settlement on the site of the city. The inhabitants did not live by agriculture alone, they also traded with England and the rest of Gaul. Around 270 the Germanic people attacked the Flemish coastal plain for the first time. The Romans probably still had a military fortification here at the end of the third century and during the fourth century. So it is very possible that Bruges was inhabited in the transition period to the early Middle Ages. When Saint Eligius came to spread Christianity in our area around 650, Bruges was perhaps the most important fortification in the Flemish coastal area.

Around a hundred years later trade started with Scandinavia in Bruges. The name Bruges in fact comes from the Old Norse "Bryggja" which means landing stage. The name Bruges has appeared on documents and coins since the middle of the ninth century. At that time there was already a strong citadel in Bruges (the Burg). And the city was not plundered by the Norsemen. The overseas trade between Bruges and Scandinavia, the Norsemen's home, probably continued.

So Bruges has a long tradition of international port activity. The oldest trade settlement of Bruges and the early middle age port was accessible from the sea until around 1050. The second area of occupation outside the Burg was close to the present day Steenstraat and the Oude Burg. It was here that the city grew fastest until around 1100. The two oldest parish churches in Bruges, the Church of Our Lady St. Saviour's, were then at the edge of this district. They date from the ninth century.

In the eleventh century Bruges had expanded to become a commercial centre for Europe. But during this period the natural link between Bruges and the sea silted up. A storm flood in 1134 changed the appearance of the Flemish coastal plain however. A deep channel appeared, the Zwin, which at the time reached as far as present day Damme. The city remained linked to the sea until the fifteenth century via a canal from the Zwin to Bruges. But Bruges had to use a number of outports, such as Damme and Sluis for this purpose.

So in the Middle Ages it was possible for Bruges to become the most important trade centre of north-west Europe. Flanders was then one of the most urbanised areas in Europe. Flemish cloth, a high quality woollen material, was exported to the whole of Europe from Bruges. From the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries Bruges had between 40,000 and 45,000 inhabitants, double the number now in the historic inner city. In the fourteenth century Bruges had expanded to become a rich international port city. Merchants from northern and southern Europe came together here. For their business they used Bruges brokers and landlords. In the city itself there was not only Flemish cloth manufacture but all kinds of other (craft) trades had developed. It is significant that in Bruges at that time there were already real bankers in operation, both natives of Bruges and Italians. Merchants could open a current account here, transfer large sums, change money and even pay with notes.

But we should not forget that hard times also occurred regularly in Bruges. The differences in income between the ordinary people (the tradesmen) and the merchant entrepreneurs (the patricians) were huge, regardless of those in the middle. Violent revolts, like those of 1280 and 1436-1438 were roughly suppressed. In the 1302 uprising the ordinary people took the side of the Flemish count against the king of France and the propertied classes. This struggle, in which Bruges played a prominent role, resulted in a victory for the tradespeople and the Flemish count in the Battle of the Golden Spurs on 11 July 1302. This historic date is now the feast day of the Flemish community in Belgium.

The fourteenth century, a period of crises for Bruges and Flanders with revolts, epidemics, political unrest and war, ended with the dynastic merger of Flanders and Burgundy. The Burgundian period in Bruges started in 1384. Bruges would remain the most important trade centre to the north of the Alps for another century. Cloth production was partly replaced by luxury goods, banking services, crafts. The Burgundian court provided a great deal of local purchasing power. This was promoted further by the foreign merchants with their international contacts from Portugal to Poland. Prosperity increased, travellers came and were deeply impressed by the sumptuousness and luxury of the city scene. Art and culture flourished as never before. But all this came to an end with the sudden death of Mari of Burgundy in 1482. The revolt against her widower Maximilian of Austria meant that Bruges suffered political uncertainty and military force for ten years. Local prosperity disappeared from the city along with the Burgundian court and the international traders.

In the sixteenth century Bruges recovered to an extent. But the city had clearly lost its leading position to Antwerp. However Bruges remained important as a regional centre with a lot of international commercial contacts and a flourishing art sector. The split from the Netherlands, final from 1584, led to the final decline of Bruges.

Around 1600 Bruges was a provincial city with a modest maritime reputation. The Bruges merchant spirit had still not disappeared in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Commercial life had international roots. Bruges shipowners and merchants still traded with the Spanish empire, England and the East and West Indies.

Bruges experienced the revolution period from 1789 to 1830 in a passive way. The first industrial revolution hardly disturbed the city. Around 1850 Bruges was the poorest city in the country. The middle classes spoke French, the illiterate people only knew their local dialect. French was decreed to be the official language for public life in 1885. But Guido Gezelle (1830-1899), the most important Dutch speaking poet of the nineteenth century, was a native of Bruges. In European literature Bruges was made famous by the French language novel "Bruges la Morte" by Georges Rodenbach (1892). The book describes Bruges as a sleeping, dead, but mysterious city.

When "Bruges la Morte" appeared, Bruges had just begun some ambitious new projects. The new sea-port, inaugurated in 1907 in Zeebrugge, did not achieve full prosperity until the last quarter of the twentieth century. Since the end of the nineteenth century Bruges was also known throughout Europe as a city of art and a tourist centre. The Bruges monuments, museums and particularly the unspoilt historic cityscape attract millions of visitors every year. The port of Zeebrugge and the cultural/historic patrimony of Bruges give the city a European and international dimension.

Bruges was reborn as an Art City, well preserved, never severely damaged. The city is admired every day by thousands of tourists from all over the world.

At Zand square the construction of a big concert hall added to the civilization level of the city. For 2002 Bruges has been chosen, together with Salamanca in Spain, as cultural capital cities of Europe.

We thank www.brugge.be as the source of much of the above info.

Bruges is subject to the phenomenon that exists everywhere in the world of tourism, namely the season. It has, of course, to do with the simple fact that most people go on holiday in the summer and, above all, with the concentration of events and manifestations in Bruges during this period. Bruges' best known events, almost without exception, take place in July and August.

Please remember that Bruges is much more than just a particularly attractive decor in which to walk around in short sleeves. It has a peculiar atmosphere of its own which can sometimes be called charming and at other times imposing.

Bruges ranks, even today, among the important cities of Belgium. It is also the capital of the Belgian province of West-Flanders. A lot of people take day-trips from Brussels to Bruges, but there is to much to see here to fill only 1 day. The best way to visit Bruges is to spend at least one night in one of the many beautiful and cozy hotels. Later in the evening, when all the tourists have gone, Bruges finds back its charm and quiet of old times. When one is lucky with the weather, a stroll through the tiny medieval streets can be an enchanting experience.

This special dimension is also present in the summer months but not more than otherwise. On the contrary, on account of the cosmopolitan crowds. You are more likely to hear your own language than the Brugean dialect; unless you book early enough, you won't be able to relax your weary limbs in a romantic Brugean hotel bed; and you will find yourself sharing the Van Eycks and the terraces with James, Ulrich, Brigitte and Carmen, which can in itself have pleasant consequences.

Bruges is well worth visiting when the chestnuts are falling. In the autumn Bruges accumulates atmosphere, colour contrasts and authenticity, as no other city can. Look at that handsome classified gothic facade, beautifully adorned with geraniums, but also stop to admire the more prosaic little house beside it, where the neighbour has already placed a sober winter Erica on the window-sill. You don't have to have a poetic soul to recognize the beauty of the red ivy climbing up the stately walls of Our Lady's Church in November.

What's more, at this time of the year the landlord of the cafe, where you have gone for a drink, finds time for a chat with you, you don't have to push your way through crowds at the shop cash desk and you can easily park your car.

The same goes for the winter. Although it can be cold then, this is just the moment to discover how heart-warming Bruges can be. There is always a chance that you can discover Bruges on the frozen canals among the excited Brugean children and the skaters gliding towards Damme or back, with warmly dressed families, sometimes pushing prams on a bracing winter's walk. It's unbelievable how good a Flemish hotpot can taste beside the open fire in one of the many typical restaurants serving regional dishes, which you can find in Bruges, even below zero. Rediscover too the delights of a hotel which you not only use, but to which you come back, cold and wet, to a strong coffee-with-liqueur, a warm reception, and a cheering story about the even colder days gone by.

Or take the spring with its unpredictable sunshine that makes Bruges so picturesque, even though it's often quite fresh outside. This freshness can be found in everything. Waiters take the time to help you choose a drink and explain the menu to you.

The Minnewater, close to the station and an enormous coach park (where you can also park your car) which leads via a little bridge to the Minnewaterpark, and where there is also a sub-office of the Tourist Information Office, with a direct telephone line in case of absence, for example during the off-season.

The closest "monument" from here is the Beguinage, though the park and the Minnewater itself create a monumental first impression. Such a view is to be found only in postcards or miles away from the inhabited world. Stroll around the water, especially if there are two of you, for this romantic "lake of love" is reputed to have an positive influence on budding love affairs, and even to stimulate relationships of a dustier nature. Some people throw coins into the lake in the hope of speeding up matters, but it is not known if it helps.

You now enter the Beguinage through a handsome gate of more recent date than the close itself, which goes back to the 12th century. This inner garden with its spectacular trees is beautiful: the peacefulness will take your breath away. If you arrive just before noon, you should accept the invitation of the convent clock to go into the church where the Benedictine nuns, who have replaced the former Beguines, can be heard chanting prayers. Easter is the best time to be here, with the daffodils in full bloom.

Leaving the Beguinage you cross the Walplaats and head in the direction of Our Lady's Church, whose 117m. spire towers above the surrounding houses.

Before you go into Our Lady's Church to admire Michelangelo's beautiful Madonna and Child, you pass the centuries old St. John's Hospital, situated to the left and over the bridge in the Katelijnestraat. In the awe inspiring sick wards you cannot fail to be impressed by hospital life in previous centuries, but above all the finest works of Hans Memling, which are displayed in authentic surroundings.

More worldly sights await you on your way: the pump from which the horses are watered while the coachmen slake their thirst in a nearby cafe during their passengers' visit to the Beguinage; one of the two remaining active Brugean breweries in the Walplaats, which produces "Straffe Hendrik", and a remarkable metal sculpture on the Square itself. The narrow Stoofstraat owes its name to the "bath stoves" which once heated a kind of medieval sauna of dubious reputation.

Past the church and its shadow, you come to the Gruuthuse museum.
Even if this stately house, a gem of civil gothic architecture, was completely empty, it would still be worth looking around. But it's far from being empty. You will find here a wealth of carpets, furniture, lace, weapons, coins, antiques and hundreds of other interesting exhibits.

It's also nice to approach the Gruuthuse from the other side of the church, via the backdoor, as it were. This brings you to the St. Bonifacius bridge, possibly the prettiest in Bruges, even though it was built in the 20th century. In so doing you come to the Arentshof park and the museum of the same name. Opposite this is the coach gallery. Through a gateway you reach the Groeninge museum with its magnificent survey of Flemish painting from the 15th century virtually to the present day. Names such as Hans Memling, Jan van Eyck, Petrus Christus, Gerard David and even Breugel and Hieronymus Bosch hang next to one another, and you quickly forget the gaps in the more recent works.

Now, we can walk along the Dyver in the direction of the Rozenhoedkaai. Strolling through the weekend antique and bric-ΰ-brac market on the Dyver, we come to the Huidenvettersplein, which a number of active painters have turned into a kind of "Brugean Place du Tertre".

Before approaching the Burg via the Blinde Ezelstraat, have a quick look at the Fish Market where, in the morning, the best produce of Zeebrugge is sold among the 126 columns of this impressive piece of 19th century architecture. The Burg itself is far from being 19th century and in fact reflects the styles of various centuries. In the right hand corner next to a fine example of successful 20th century architecture stands the 12th century Romanesque. This is one of the most well-known buildings of Bruges.
The gothic City Hall of 1376 should also definitely be visited. On the first floor behind this lace-in-stone facade, is the incomparably beautiful Gothic Hall.