Famous Landmarks in Bruges
Gothic brick towers and stepped gables ring an oval medieval core threaded by canals.
Bruges' landmarks sit inside the oval, roughly 430-hectare historic centre that UNESCO lists as a single site, so the belfry, the city hall, the basilica and the beguinage are all within a short walk of one another, threaded by the city's canals. Brick is the constant material: the belfry's leaning bell tower, the Church of Our Lady's tower — the third-tallest brick church tower in the world — and the beguinage's walled houses are all built of it. Civic and religious construction spans the 12th to 15th centuries, with Gothic Revival restoration added across the 19th century, so what stands today layers original medieval fabric with later rebuilding.
Belfry of Bruges
1240
A brick bell tower that tilts noticeably off true vertical, its Gothic outline dominating the skyline of the old centre.
This medieval bell tower dates from 1240 and stands in the centre of Bruges, built in the Brabantine Gothic style. It formerly housed the city's treasury and municipal archives and served as an observation post for spotting fires and other dangers. Officially classified as an inclined tower, it leans slightly off vertical. Today it operates as a museum and, together with the surrounding historic centre, forms part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- It is officially classified as an inclined tower, leaning slightly off vertical.
- It once served as a lookout post for spotting fires and other dangers across the city.
Photo: Jean-Pol GRANDMONT (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Church of Our Lady
13th–15th century
A soaring brick tower — the tallest structure in the old centre and the third-tallest brick church tower in the world — braced by exterior flying buttresses added in the late 13th century.
This Roman Catholic church dates mainly from the 13th to 15th centuries, its exterior flying buttresses added in the 1270s and 80s. At 115.6 metres, its tower is the tallest structure in the city and the third-tallest brickwork church tower in the world. The nave has cross-vaults and black-and-white tiled flooring, while the side aisles and chancel were later reworked in Baroque style. A chapel built in 1482 served the private worship of a wealthy merchant. Gothic Revival-era restorers, among them Jean-Baptiste Bethune and members of the Viérin family, worked on the building in the 19th and 20th centuries.
- Its tower is the third-tallest brickwork church tower in the world, after two in Germany.
- One chapel was built in 1482 for the private worship of a single wealthy merchant.
Photo: Wolfgang Staudt (CC BY 2.0)
Bruges City Hall
1376–1421
A tall, symmetrical late-Gothic façade of dense window tracery overlooking a small square, among the oldest town halls to survive from the region's Burgundian era.
Built between 1376 and 1421, this town hall is one of the oldest surviving city halls from the former Burgundian Netherlands. It was raised in a monumental late-Gothic style on Burg Square, the site of the city's former fortified castle, and has served as the seat of municipal government ever since. The building now also operates as a museum and, together with the surrounding historic centre, forms part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- It ranks among the oldest surviving city halls in the entire former Burgundian Netherlands.
- It was raised on the site of the city's former fortified castle.
Photo: Marc Ryckaert (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Basilica of the Holy Blood
1134–1157
Two stacked chapels on a small square: a dark, largely unaltered Romanesque lower hall beneath a lighter Gothic upper chamber rebuilt in the 16th century and refreshed in Gothic Revival style in the 19th.
Raised between 1134 and 1157 as the private chapel of the Count of Flanders, this basilica houses a relic venerated as the Holy Blood, which tradition holds was collected by Joseph of Arimathea and brought from the Holy Land by Thierry of Alsace. The lower chapel, dedicated to St Basil the Great, remains a largely unaltered dark Romanesque space; the upper chapel was rebuilt in Gothic style in the 16th century and renovated again in the 19th. The building was elevated to a minor basilica only in 1923.
- Tradition holds the relic was collected by Joseph of Arimathea and brought from the Holy Land.
- It was raised to the rank of minor basilica only in 1923, despite dating from the 12th century.
Photo: Jim Linwood (CC BY 2.0)
Ten Wijngaerde Beguinage
1245
A self-contained walled enclosure of former beguine houses, its western range reshaped and enlarged into a convent complex in the 1920s.
Founded in 1245, this is the only beguinage to survive intact in Bruges, originally built as a walled home for a community of lay religious women. No beguines remain today: since 1927 it has functioned as a convent for Benedictine nuns, a change begun by canon Hoornaert. That same year the houses along its western side were reshaped and enlarged into the Monasterium De Wijngaard, a priory for the Benedictine sisters. It forms part of the historic centre's UNESCO World Heritage listing.
- It is the only beguinage to survive intact in the city.
- Since 1927 it has housed Benedictine nuns rather than the lay beguines it was built for.
Photo: Jean-Pol GRANDMONT (CC BY 3.0)
History
Bruges grew wealthy as one of the world's chief commercial cities, and its surviving landmarks read as monuments to that medieval prosperity. The Counts of Flanders raised a private chapel on Burg Square between 1134 and 1157 that later became a pilgrimage site for a venerated relic; the same square later gained a monumental Gothic town hall, built between 1376 and 1421 on the ruins of the counts' fortified castle. The belfry rose from 1240 as a civic watchtower and record store, while the Church of Our Lady's tower, still the tallest structure in the city, took shape mainly across the 13th to 15th centuries. A walled community for lay religious women was founded in 1245 and, centuries later, in 1927, passed to Benedictine nuns.