Bruges

Name	BrugesBrugge
Picture	Bruggewasser.jpg
Picture-legend	A canal in Bruges
Map	BruggeLocatie.png
Map-legend	Location of Bruges in West Flanders
Arms	Brugge-wapen.jpg
Flag	BruggeVlag.gif
Region
Community
Province
Arrondissement	Bruges
Nis	31005
Pyramid-date	1 January 2006
0-19	20.57
20-64	59.34
65	20.09
Foreigners	3.52
Foreigners-date	1 January 2007
Mayor	Patrick Moenaert (CD&V;)
Majority	CD&V;, N-VA, SP.A-Spirit, VLD
Postal-codes	8000, 8200, 8310, 8380
Telephone-area	050
Web	www.brugge.be
Lat deg	51
Lat min	13
Lon deg	3
Lon min	14

Bruges ( in English; , ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country.

The historic city centre is a prominent World Heritage Site of UNESCO. It is oval-shaped and about 430 hectares in size. The area of the whole city amounts to more than 13,840 hectares, including 1,075 hectares off the coast, at Zeebrugge (meaning "Brugge aan Zee" or "Bruges on Sea"). The city's total population is 117,073 (1 January 2008), of which around 20,000 live in the historic centre. The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of 616 km² and has a total of 255,844 inhabitants as of 1 January 2008.

Along with a few other canal-based northern cities, such as Amsterdam, it is sometimes referred to as "The Venice of the North".

Bruges has a significant economic importance thanks to its port. At one time, it was the "chief commercial city" of the world.

History

Origins

Very few traces of human activity in Bruges date from the Pre-Roman Gaul era. The first fortifications were built after Julius Caesar's conquest of the Menapii in the first century BC, to protect the coastal area against pirates. The Franks took over the whole region from the Gallo-Romans around the 4th century and administered it as the Pagus Flandrensis. The Viking incursions of the ninth century prompted Baldwin I, Count of Flanders to reinforce the Roman fortifications; trade soon resumed with England and Scandinavia. It is at around this time that coins appeared for the first time bearing the name Bryggia. This name may stem from the Old Norse , meaning "landing stage" or "port", and may have the same origin as Norway’s Bryggen, a World Heritage site in the city of Bergen, which may also share the same etymology.

Golden Age (12th to 15th century)

("Market square")]] Bruges got its city charter on July 27, 1128 and new walls and canals were built. Since about 1050, gradual silting had caused the city to lose its direct access to the sea. A storm in 1134, however, re-established this access, through the creation of a natural channel at the Zwin. The new sea arm stretched all the way to Damme, a city that became the commercial outpost for Bruges.

With the reawakening of town life in the twelfth century, a wool market, a woollens weaving industry, and the market for cloth all profited from the shelter of city walls, where surpluses could be safely accumulated under the patronage of the counts of Flanders. Bruges was already included in the circuit of the Flemish cloth fairs at the beginning of the 13th century. The city's entrepreneurs reached out to make economic colonies of England and Scotland's wool-producing districts. English contacts brought Normandy grain and Gascon wines. Hanseatic ships filled the harbor, which had to be expanded beyond Damme to Sluys to accommodate the new cog-ships. In 1277, the first merchant fleet from Genoa appeared in the port of Bruges, first of the merchant colony that made Bruges the main link to the trade of the Mediterranean. This development opened not only the trade in spices from the Levant, but also advanced commercial and financial techniques and a flood of capital that soon took over the banking of Bruges. The Bourse opened in 1309 (most likely the first stock exchange in the world) and developed into the most sophisticated money market of the Low Countries in the 14th century. By the time Venetian galleys first appeared, in 1314, they were latecomers.

Such wealth gave rise to social upheavals, which were for the most part harshly contained. In 1302, however, after the Bruges Matins (the nocturnal massacre of the French garrison in Bruges by the members of the local Flemish militia on 18 May 1302), the population joined forces with the Count of Flanders against the French, culminating in the victory at the Battle of the Golden Spurs, fought near Kortrijk on July 11. The statue of Jan Breydel and Pieter de Coninck, the leaders of the uprising, can still be seen on the Big Market square.

At the end of the 14th century, Bruges became one of the Four Members, along with Franc of Bruges, Ghent and Ypres. Together they formed a parliament, however they frequently quarreled amongst themselves.

In the 15th century, Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, set up court in Bruges, as well as Brussels and Lille, attracting a number of artists, bankers, and other prominent personalities from all over Europe. The weavers and spinners of Bruges were thought to be the best in the world, and the population of Bruges grew to 200,000 inhabitants at this time.

The new Flemish-school, oil-painting techniques gained world renown. The first book in English ever printed was published in Bruges by William Caxton. This is also the time when Edward IV and Richard III of England spent time in exile here.

16th century onwards

(around 1775)]] Starting around 1500, the Zwin channel, which had given the city its prosperity, also started silting. The city soon fell behind Antwerp as the economic flagship of the Low Countries. During the 17th century, the lace industry took off, and various efforts to bring back the glorious past were made. During the 1650s, the city was the base for Charles II of England and his court in exile. The maritime infrastructure was modernized, and new connections with the sea were built, but without much success. Bruges became impoverished and gradually disappeared from the picture, with its population dwindling from 200,000 to 50,000 by the end of the 1800s.

Many of its medieval buildings are notable, including the Church of Our Lady, whose brick spire reaches , making it one of the world's highest brick towers/buildings. The sculpture Madonna and Child, which can be seen in the transept, is believed to be Michelangelo's only sculpture to have left Italy within his lifetime.

Bruges' most famous landmark is its 13th-century belfry, housing a municipal carillon comprising 48 bells. The city still employs a full-time carillonneur, who gives free concerts on a regular basis.

Other famous buildings in Bruges include:

The Beguinage

The Basilica of the Holy Blood (). The relic of the Holy Blood, which was brought to the city after the Second Crusade by Thierry of Alsace, is paraded every year through the streets of the city. More than 1,600 inhabitants take part in this mile-long religious procession, many dressed as medieval knights or crusaders.

The modern Concertgebouw ("Concert Building")

The Old St-John's Hospital

The Saint Salvator's Cathedral

The Groeningemuseum

The City Hall on the Burg square

The Provincial Court (Provinciaal Hof)

The preserved old city gateways: the Kruispoort, the Gentpoort, the Smedenpoort and the Ezelpoort. The Dampoort, the Katelijnepoort and the Boeveriepoort are gone.

Bruges also has a very fine collection of medieval and early modern art, including the world-famous collection of Flemish Primitives. Various masters, such as Hans Memling and Jan van Eyck, lived and worked in Bruges.

Culture and art

Theatres and concert halls

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Aquariustheater

Biekorf

Concertgebouw ("Concert Building")

De Dijk

De Werf

Het Entrepot

Joseph Ryelandtzaal

Magdalenazaal

Sirkeltheater

Stadsschouwburg

Studio Hall

Cinemas

Cinema Lumière (alternative movies)

Cinema Liberty

Kinepolis Bruges

Festivals

{| class="vatop" |- | style="width:400px;"|

; Music festivals:

* Airbag (accordion festival)

* Ars Musica (contemporary music)

* Blues in Bruges

* Brugge Tripel Dagen

* Brugges Festival (world music)

* Cactusfestival

* Elements Festival (electronic music)

* Fuse on the Beach (dance festival in Zeebrugge)

* Hafabrugge (orchestra festival)

* Internationale Fedekam Taptoe

* Jazz Brugge (jazz festival)

* Koorfestival (choir festival)

* Festival van Vlaanderen - MAfestival (old music)

* Music in Mind (atmospheric (rock) music)

* September Jazz (jazz festival)

* Sint-Gillis Blues- en Folkfestival

* Many small rock festivals; the best known are:

** BurgRock

** Comma Rocks Festival

** Red Rock Rally

** Thoprock

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; Cultural or food festivals:

* Aristidefeesten

* BAB-bierfestival (beer festival)

* Brugse Kantdagen ("Bruges' Lace Days")

* Chapter 2 (juggling convention)

* Choco-Laté (chocolate festival)

* Cinema Novo (film festival)

* Cirque Plus (circus festival)

* European Youth Film Festival of Flanders

* Ice Magic (snow and ice sculpture festival)

* Jonge Snaken Festival

* Midwinterfeest

* NAFT (theatre festival)

* Poirot in Bruges - Knack thrillerfestival

* Razor Reel Fantastic Film Festival

* Reiefeest (festival on the canals)

| style="width:400px;"|

; Musical cultural festivals:

* Come On!

* Coupurefeesten

* December Dance (dance festival)

* Feest In 't Park

* FEST!

* Klinkers

* Polé Polé Beach (in Zeebrugge)

* Sint-Michielse Feeste

* Summer End Festival

* Vama Veche festival

|}

Museums

Municipal museums

Artistic works from the 15th to 21st century:

* Groeningemuseum

* Arents House (contains a Sir Frank Brangwyn museum and a museum for ever-changing exhibitions of expressive art)

* Forum+ (part of the Concertgebouw; has exhibitions of contemporary art)

The Bruggemuseum ("Bruges Museum") (general name for 11 different historical museums in the city):

* Gruuthusemuseum

* Welcome Church of Our Lady

* Archaeological Museum

* Gentpoort

* Belfry

* City Hall

* Liberty of Bruges

* Museum of Folklore

* Guido Gezelle Museum

* Koelewei (Cool Meadow) Mill

* Sint-Janshuis (St. John’s House) Mill

Hospitalmuseums:

* Old St John’s Hospital (Hans Memling)

* Our Lady of the Potteries

Non-municipal museums

Beguine's House

Brewery museum

Hof Bladelin

Basilica of the Holy Blood

Choco-Story (chocolate museum)

Lumina Domestica (lamp museum)

Museum-Gallery Xpo: Salvador Dalí

Diamond Museum

English Convent

Frietmuseum (museum dedicated to Belgian Fries)

Jerusalem Church

Lace centre

St. George’s Archers Guild

Saint Salvator's Cathedral

St. Sebastian’s Archers’ Guild

St. Trudo Abbey

Public Observatory Beisbroek

Ter Doest Abbey (in Lissewege)

Transport

Road

Bruges has motorway connections to all directions:

A10 to Ostend

A10/E40 to Ghent and Brussels

A18/E40 to Veurne and France

A17/E403 to Kortrijk and Tournai

N31/E403 to Zeebrugge

N49/E34 to Antwerp

Driving within the 'egg', the historical centre enclosed by the main circle of canals in Bruges, is discouraged by traffic management schemes, including a network of one way streets. The system encourages the use of set routes leading to central car parks and direct exit routes. The car parks are convenient for the central commercial and tourist areas; they are inexpensive.

Railway

Bruges' main railway station is the focus of lines to the Belgian coast. It also provides at least hourly trains to all other major cities in Belgium, as well as to Lille, France. Further there are several regional and local trains.

The main station is also a stop for the Thalys train Paris–Brussels–Ostend.

Bus links to the centre are frequent, though the railway station is just a 10 minute walk from the main shopping streets and a 20 minute walk from the Market Square.

Plans for a north–south light rail connection through Bruges, from Zeebrugge to Lichtervelde, and a light rail connection between Bruges and Ostend are under construction.

Air

The national Brussels Airport, one hour away by train or car, offers the best connectivity. The nearest airport is the Ostend-Bruges International Airport in Ostend (around 25 km from the city centre of Bruges), but it offers limited passenger transport and connections.

Public city transport

Bruges has an extensive web of bus lines, operated by De Lijn, providing access to the city centre and the suburbs (city lines, ) and to many towns and villages in the region around the city (regional lines, ).

In support of the municipal traffic management (see "Road" above), free public transport is available for those who park their cars in the main railway station car park.

Cycling

Although a few streets are restricted, no part of Bruges is car free.

Cars are required to yield to pedestrians and cyclists. Plans have long been under way to ban cars altogether from the historic center of Bruges or to restrict traffic much more than it currently is, but these plans have yet to come to fruition. In 2005, signs were changed for the convenience of cyclists, allowing two-way cycle traffic on more streets, however car traffic has not decreased. Recent cycle fatalities have increased pressure to close bridges and further calm inner Bruges, but laws have not yet passed. Due to heavily populated suburbs, bus traffic is high on the narrow streets. This makes cycling even trickier.

Nevertheless, in common with many cities in the region, there are thousands of cyclists in the city of Bruges.

, here at Zeebrugge port, currently one of the world's largest container vessels.]]

Port

The port of Bruges is Zeebrugge. It's the most modern and second biggest port of Belgium and one of the most important in Europe.

Sports

Bruges is traditionally the starting town for the annual Ronde van Vlaanderen cycle race, held in April and one of the biggest sporting events in Belgium.

Bruges is also a football town, represented by two teams at the top level (Belgian First Division): Club Brugge K.V. and Cercle Brugge K.S.V., both playing in the Jan Breydel Stadium (30,000 seats) in Sint-Andries. Although, there are plans for a new stadium with about 45,000 seats in the south of the city, near the junction of the E40 and the E403.

In 2000 Bruges was one of the eight host cities for the UEFA European Football Championship.

Education

Bruges is an important centre for education in West Flanders. Next to the several common primary and secondary schools, there are a few colleges, like the KHBO (Katholieke Hogeschool Brugge-Oostende) or the HOWEST (Hogeschool West-Vlaanderen). Furthermore, the city is home to the College of Europe, a prestigious institution of postgraduate studies in European Economics, Law and Politics, and of the United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU-CRIS), a Research and Training Institute of the United Nations University specialising in the comprative study of regional integration.

Town twinning policy

On principle, Bruges has to date never entered into close collaboration with twin cities. Without denying the usefulness of this schemes for towns with fewer international contacts, the main reason is that Bruges would find it difficult to choose between cities and thinks that it has enough work already with its many international contacts. Also, it was thought in Bruges that twinning was too often an occasion for city authorities and representatives to travel on public expense.

This principle resulted, in the 1950s, in Bruges refusing a jumelage with Nice and other towns, signed by a Belgian ambassador without previous consultation. In the 1970s, a Belgian consul in Oldenburg made the mayor of Bruges sign a declaration of friendship which he tried to present, in vain, as a jumelage.

The twinning between some of the former communes, merged with Bruges in 1971, were discontinued.

This does not mean that Bruges would not be interested in cooperation with others, as well in the short term as in the long run, for particular projects. Here follow a few examples.

; Bastogne, Luxembourg, Belgium : After World War II and into the 1970s, Bruges, more specifically the Fire Brigade of Bruges, entertained friendly relations with Bastogne. Each year a free holiday was offered at the seaside in Zeebrugge, to children from the Nuts city. ; Arolsen, Hesse, Germany : From the 1950s until the 1980s, Bruges was the patron of the Belgian First Regiment of Horse Guards, quartered in Arolsen. ; Salamanca, Castilla y León, Spain : Both towns having been made European Capital of Culture in 2002, Bruges had some exchanges organized with Salamanca. ; Mons, Hainaut, Belgium : In 2007, cultural and artistic cooperation between Mons and Bruges was inaugurated. ; Burgos, Castilla y León, Spain : On 29 January 2007, the mayors of Burgos and Bruges signed a declaration of intent about future cooperation on cultural, touristic and economic matters.

Notable people

The following people were born in Bruges:

Jan Breydel and Pieter de Coninck, freedom fighters

Philip I of Castile, first Habsburg ruler in Spain (1478–1506)

Adrian Willaert, composer of the Renaissance, (birth in Bruges uncertain, c. 1490-1562)

Simon Stevin, mathematician and engineer (1548–1620)

Franciscus Gomarus, Calvinist theologian (1563–1641)

Guido Gezelle, poet and priest (1830–1899)

Tony Parker, French Basketball Player

In the 15th century, the city became the magnet for a number of prominent personalities:

Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy set up court in Bruges, Brussels, and Lille in the 15th century

William Caxton, English merchant, diplomat, writer, and printer

Petrus Christus, Flemish painter

Gerard David, Flemish painter

Hans Memling, Flemish painter

Jan van Eyck, Flemish painter

Juan Luís Vives, Spanish scholar and humanist

Simon Bening and Levina Teerlinc, Limners

Miscellaneous

Bruges is known for its lace.

Several beers are named after Bruges, such as Brugge Blond, Brugge Tripel, Brugs, Brugse Babbelaar, Brugse Straffe Hendrik and Brugse Zot. However, only Brugse Zot and Brugse Straffe Hendrik are still brewed in the city itself, in the Halve Maan Brewery.

In Sint-Michiels is the amusement park Boudewijn Seapark, which features a dolphinarium.

Fiction:

* Bruges-la-Morte, a short novel by the Belgian author Georges Rodenbach, first published in 1892.

* In Bruges, a film from Oscar-winning director Martin McDonagh, starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, is set almost entirely in Bruges. The city's major landmarks and history are mentioned repeatedly throughout the film, as are the contrasted viewpoints of the two lead characters of the story.

* The detective stories of Pieter Aspe are situated in Bruges.

* The Nun's Story, a dramatic film released by Warner Bros. Pictures in 1959, is mostly set in Bruges.

* Niccolò Rising, the first volume of the 8 book House of Niccolo series by Dorothy Dunnett is largely set in Bruges, and other books in the series also have sections set in Bruges.

* Floris, a Dutch television action series, written by Gerard Soeteman

* Alan Hollinghurst's novel The Folding Star is set in a Flemish town that is recognisably Bruges.

* L'Astrologue de Bruges, a Belgian bande dessinée in the Yoko Tsuno series by Roger Leloup, is entirely set in Bruges, both contemporary and in 1545.

Panoramas

Further reading

de Roover, Raymond. Money, Banking and Credit in Mediaeval Bruges: Italian Merchant-Bankers Lombards and Money-Changers: A Study in The Origins of Banking (Harvard U.P. 1948);

Murray, James M. Bruges, Cradle of Capitalism 1280–1390 (2005)

References

External links

Official Website, also available in Dutch, French and German

Category:Flanders Category:Cities and towns in Flanders Category:European Capitals of Culture Category:Port cities and towns in Belgium Category:Port cities and towns of the North Sea Category:Municipalities of West Flanders Category:Provincial capitals of Flanders Category:Trading posts of the Hanseatic League Category:World Heritage Sites in Belgium