_Follow Rue St. Catherine (continuation of Rue Notre-Dame, beyond
the Hospital), then take Rue de la Vigne (third on the right)
leading to Place de la Vigne. Immediately on the right, behind the
Béguinage Bridge over the Reye, at the end of Minnewater Lock, is_ the
Renaissance porch (1776) of the entrance to the +Béguinage Convent+
_(photo, p. 105 and sketch below)_.
A grassy courtyard shaded with slender elms and bordered by low white
cottages, neat and clean like those of a Dutch village, breathes
monastic calm and peace. The tiny church, dating from the beginning of
the 17th century, was built on the site of the 13th century edifice
(destroyed by fire). The Béguinage was founded by Countess Jeanne of
Constantinople. The northern door is the only remaining vestige of the
former building. In the interior are several paintings and tombs of
Nuns ("Béguines"). Adjoining the house of the Supérieure (Grande Dame),
is a 15th century chapel containing a carved tabernacle, a brass tablet
with a 16th century effigy, and painted vaulting.
[Illustration]
_On the right, at the other side of the bridge is +the Minnewater+
(Photo, p. 105 and sketch opposite)._
The Minnewater was formerly a navigable basin constructed at the point
where the Reye enters the city. The original wooden bridge, flanked
with two towers of masonry, was replaced in 1470 by the present
structure. The eastern tower no longer exists, but the round western
one still stands at the head of the bridge, and commands a charming
view--often reproduced pictorially--of the town, with its towers and
the Béguinage Convent in the foreground.
[Illustration: +Entrance to the Béguinage.+]
_Follow Rue de l'Arsenal, turning left into Rue St. Catherine, at the
corner of which stands the +Musée de Peinture+ (See sketch, p. 104)_.
☙ ☙ ☙
[Illustration: +The Minnewater.+ _In the background:_ +Tower of
Notre-Dame.+]
[Illustration: +Entrance to the Musée de Peinture.+]
The Musée de Peinture.
This Museum contains a collection of early Flemish masterpieces. At the
entrance are two famous paintings by Gérard David (1498): _The Judgment
of Cambyses_ and _The Chastisement of the Unjust Judge_. Next come:
_The Last Judgment_, by Jean Prévost (1525); _The Baptism of Christ_,
a triptych by Gérard David (1507), with portraits of the donor and his
family; _The Virgin and Child_, _St. George_ and _St. Donatian_, with
a fine portrait of the donor, _Canon Van der Paele_, by Jean van Eyck
(1436); a triptych by Memling (1484); _St. Christopher, St. Maurus and
St. Giles_, with a portrait of the donor, W. Moreel, his wife, five
sons and eleven daughters (St. George and John-the-Baptist are depicted
on the folding leaves); _The Last Judgment_, by Van den Coornhuuse, a
master-painter of Bruges; two miniatures, by G. David; two paintings,
by Lancelot Blondeel (1545): _St. Luke_ and _The Legend of St. George_;
also paintings by Pourbus, Clayessens, Claeys, Van Oost and Van Goyen.
_Continue along Rue St. Catherine, taking on the right, Rue
Vieille-de-Gand as far as Place de la Porte de Gand._
The Porte de Gand.
This is one of the city's former seven gates, of which only four
remain. The Ghent Gate, a specimen of the military architecture of the
Middle-Ages, has like the St. Croix Gate _(p. 108)_, retained much of
its mediæval aspect. To the right of the gate are gardens which occupy
part of the ramparts.
[Illustration: +The Porte de Gand.+]
[Illustration: +Quai Vert, seen from the Quai des Dominicains.+]
_Take Rue de la Porte de Gand, opposite the gate, to_ the modern
+Church of Mary-Magdalene+, Gothic in style, situated in front of a
pretty park.
_Take Rue des Ciseaux, which skirts the church on the right, then Rue
des Corroyeurs Noirs, on the left, prolonged by Rue du Cheval._
The latter crosses the Reye at the Quai Vert, which, at this point, is
very pretty _(Photo above)_.
_Turn left, into Rue Haute, and return to the Grand'Place._
Second Excursion.
_Starting from the Grand'Place, by Rue de la Bride, continued beyond
the Place du Bourg by Rue Haute, cross the Pont du Moulin and follow
Rue Longue, at the end of which is the mediæval +Porte St. Croix+
(photo, p. 108.)_ The last two remaining windmills of Bruges are on the
ramparts, to the left.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
_Follow the ramparts to Rue des Carmes, at the corner of which is the
+Local des Archers de St. Sebastien+_ (16th century), with its quaint,
slender tower. Portraits of Members of the Guild are preserved there,
among others, those of Emperor Maximilian and Charles II of England.
_Continue along Rue du Persil which ends at Quai de la Poterie; take
the latter on the left, as far as the +Hospice de la Poterie+._
[Illustration: +Porte de St. Croix, and the Windmills on the Ramparts.+]
La Poterie.
This is both a church and a home for the aged poor. Its gabled façades
were charmingly restored by Ch. Verschelde, chief initiator of the
movement for the renovation of Bruges Architecture, deceased in 1881.
[Illustration: +Choir of the Chapelle de l'Hospice de la Poterie.+]
The polychrome decoration of the interior of the church recalls that of
the Frauenkirch at Nuremberg.
The nave dates from 1358; the choir, marble rood-loft and other
portions are 17th century. The tombs of Nicolas Despars (1597) and Jean
de Beer (1608), and the rich Treasury in the Sacristy are interesting.
The Museum (parlour, refectory, corridors) contains ancient furniture,
ivory carvings, antiquities, rich Flemish tapestries, and a fairly
large collection of pictures.
[Illustration: +Chapel of the Virgin, in the Chapelle de l'Hospice de
la Poterie.+]
The Séminaire.
The Seminary, situated immediately beyond the Poterie, is the old
Abbey of the Dunes, which was reconstructed at Bruges in 1623-1628.
The church, rebuilt in 1775, replaced the original edifice founded
in the 12th century between Furnes and Coxyde, and destroyed by the
Iconoclasts in 1556.
Since the Revolution, it has been successively a hospital, school,
lycée, warehouse, and athenæum. Today it is a diocesan seminary.
The seminary contains a collection of portraits of the bishops and
abbots of Bruges and Ypres, also the famous _Visitation_, by Albert
Dürer, in which that great master displays to the full his exquisite
talent. It is the only piece of sculpture by Dürer in the country.
_Continue along Quai de la Poterie as far as the Pont des Carmes
opposite the street of the same name. Cross the bridge and take Rue de
la Cour de Gand leading to the small Place Memling, in which stand_ a
quaint +STATUE+ of the artist and the ancient +Hôtel des Orientaux+.
_In the continuation of Rue de la Cour de Gand, beyond Place Memling,
is_ one of the two last remaining wood-panelled houses of Bruges.
_+Place Jan van Eyck+ (Photo and sketch, p. 110) is next reached_.
[Illustration]
Here stands the heavy bronze statue of +Jan van Eyck+, the gifted
inventor of oil painting.
In front, is the +Academy or Poortersloge+ (14th century), formerly
the House of the Burghers, then the meeting-place of the White Bear
Company, whose emblem may still be seen in the corner of the building
which overlooks the Rue Espagnole. It is the _Beertje van Loge_, the
oldest "burgher" of Bruges, just as the _Mannekenpis_ is the oldest
"burgher" of Brussels. However, the "Bear of Bruges" is the older of
the two (1417).
[Illustration: +Place Jan Van Eyck.+]
The building was used as an Art Gallery from 1719 to 1898. Since then
it has been entirely rebuilt in the original style, with a slender
tower facing the Rue de l'Outre, and now contains the State Records.
_On the right of the square stands_ the ancient +Tonlieu+, with its
pretty façade, large gable and porch, the whole artistically restored
in 1880. The Municipal Library, comprising some 15,000 volumes, is now
housed there. The collection includes a series of _incunables_ printed
by Colard Mansion of Bruges (15th century), _562 MSS, a collection of
epitaphs, and the +Steinmetz Collection+_ of drawings and engravings.
_Take Rue de l'Académie, facing which, on arriving at the Place
du Theatre, is the +Maison des Génois+_, a souvenir of the great
prosperity of the city during the Burgundian epoch.
The tympanum of the door is decorated with a _St. George and Dragon_.
This ancient warehouse of the rich Italian merchants is now a café.
[Illustration]
_In the middle of the Square is +the Theatre+ and behind it_, the
gloomy +Maison des Tonneliers+.
_Tourists should here take a stroll through the old picturesque streets
of this quarter, especially Rue des Aiguilles and Rue au Beurre, which
lead to +the Church of St. Jacques+._
The Church of St. Jacques.
Irregular in style, this church has a square tower with a pyramidal
roof.
Erected in the 13th century and enlarged in the 15th, it bears the
stamp of both periods. Especially noticeable are the irreparable marks
of restorations carried out in defiance of the principles and character
of the original styles. The church was sacked during the religious
troubles of the 16th century. The most unfortunate alterations were
those carried out at the end of the 17th century. In 1820 a ceiling
was added, cutting off the upper portion of the columns and pillars.
Attempts have since been made to remedy these defects.
The church contains many valuable works of art, the most important of
which is _The Tomb of Ferry de Gros_, treasurer of the Order of the
Golden Fleece, deceased in 1544, and of his two wives, Philippine of
Wiebaut and Catherine of Ailly. It is one of the very few surviving
specimens of 16th century Flemish art, and remained for a long time
in a walled-up chapel used as a store-room. In 1864, the chapel and
tomb were completely restored. The figures are recumbent, on two
superimposed stones, Ferry and his first wife being uppermost. The
other stone is by far the more remarkable of the two. Attempts have
been made to restore the original polychromy of the monument. The tomb
and the Chapel form a very harmonious and decorative whole.
Among the paintings are: on the altar in the Chapel of Souls, a
_reredos_ in three parts. It represents St. Cosmas and St. Damian, and
is considered to be Lancelot Blondeel's greatest masterpiece. In the
same chapel: a _triptych_, by Peter Pourbus (1556), _The Virgin of the
Seven Afflictions_, and a _Resurrection_, by the same painter (1578).
In the south aisle: _The Presentation of the Virgin_, one of the finest
works by Van Oost the Elder (1655). On the altar, in the northern nave:
The _Coronation of the Virgin_ by Albert Cornelis (1520), the only work
of this master, and a fine _Triptych_, by Jan Mostaert (1474-1555).
In the chapels are copper and brass tablets. The carved wood pulpit,
rood-loft and choir-stalls are in decadent Renaissance style (17th
century). Behind the high-altar is a three-storied marble tabernacle,
dating from 1593. The belfry contains some very fine bells, the oldest
of which was cast in 1525.
_On leaving the Church of St. Jacques, the tourist may either turn
left over the bridge and along Rue des Baudets, as far as the +Porte
d'Ostende+ (photo below) or return to the Grand'Place, by Rue St.
Jacques, on the right._
[Illustration: +The Porte d'Ostende.+]
[Illustration]
_Fourth Day._