Bruges; Bridges and Canals; Michealangelo

With only one full day in Bruges Sandy and I decided to walk around this very walkable city.  We started at the Markt.  The dominant buildings are the Tower and the fancy post office.  In Bruges' golden era it was a seaport trading city with the canal coming right up to the square and seagoing boats moored right where some of these buildings now stand. 

Two friends who were responsible though commerce and war

 for freeing Belgium from France

 

Bruges post office

This is perhaps Bruges' oldest house

From the Markt we moved off to Burg Square.   This time we went into City Hall which is part functioning administrative building and part museum.  The facade features 49 statues of important men in Bruges' history.  Amongst these are Baldwin I who built a fort here founding the city and Thierry of Alsace who brought the holy relic of "The Blood of Christ" to Bruges.  

Baldwin I, founder of Bruges

Thierry of Alsace, bearer of the "Blood of Christ" relic.

The assembly hall is surrounded by murals that display the history of Bruges

Holy Emperor Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, in the Renaissance Hall

We visited the treasury room of the Basilica of the "Holy Blood".  Even today this relic is an important part of Bruges culture.  According to legend, several drops of Chirst's blood, washed from his lifeless body by Joseph of Arimathea, were preserved in a crystal vial.  1,100 years later the Crusader Thierry of Alsace was given this vile for his service to the patriarch of Jerusalem.  Miraculously the dried blood turned to liquid, every Friday for 200 years at which time it dried up for the final time in 1315.  The relic is still kept in the church and revered above any of the relics, of which there are many.  It is easy for us to poke holes in this legend, but standing there just looking at the reliquary I found myself asking myself.  "What if this really is the dried blood of the named Christ"  

Reliquary of "The Blood of Christ

View from Blonde-Ezelstraat (Blind Donkey) Bridge

The only Michealangelo sculpture to leave Italy in his lifetime.  This statue was stolen twice.  Once by Napoleon, the other time by Hitler's henchmen and later recovered by the Monument Men.

Burgeans call this the "Lake of Love".

We finished the evening at a very nice French-Belgium restaurant.  We enjoyed a cheese fondue, good wine and a fun waiter.