Bruges
Town Hall, Bruges.
Choosing a few photographs and hoping to give at least an impression of our experience is a little daunting and even frustrating. There were so many beautiful and surprising things to see.
For example, we were completely unprepared for Bruges' Town Hall (above). The preservation/restoration work that must have been put into this room would make a fascinating story in itself. The murals executed in the encaustic (pigment in hot wax) technique are worth a visit as encaustic work isn't something you see very often these days - and I have never seen contemporary work executed with this level of skill.
LEFT: Lion near the entrance to the Basiliek van het Heilig Bloed/Basilique du Saint-Sang
CENTRE: Figures on the exterior of City Hall.
RIGHT: Stained Glass, Sint-Salvatorskathedral van Brugge / Cathédral Saint-Sauveur de Bruges.
It seemed that everywhere we looked there was a wonderful building, sculpture and, in many of the churches, beautiful stained glass and an elaborately carved pulpit (see below), confessionals and so on.
LEFT: Wood sculpture, pulpit, Sint-Jacobskerk/St. James Church.
CENTRE: Relics. Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Ter-Potterie/Our Lady of the Pottery.
RIGHT-TOP: Groeninge Museum & Arentshuis.
RIGHT-BOTTOM: War memorial, Sint-Salvatorskathedral van Brugge / Cathédral Saint-Sauveur de Bruges.
And all of this beautiful artistry could be seen without stepping into any of the galleries or museums:
LEFT: Chocolate figures in The Chocolate Museum.
RIGHT: Galileo, Edmond Van Hove, 19th cent., Groeninge Museum & Arentshuis.
We average seventy-five to one hundred photos per day so you can imagine the difficulty we have picking just a few. We hope we've given you some idea of our experience in Bruges.
Next, we will move on to Ghent.