Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
9:30-17:00, Sat 9:30-16:45, Sun 13:30-17:00 only; museum
and apse closed Mon, Mariastraat.
Memling Museum:
€8, includes fine audioguide, Tue-Sun 9:30-
17:00, closed Mon, Mariastraat 38.
De Halve Maan Brewery Tour:
€5 tour includes a beer; April-
Oct daily on the hour 11:00-16:00, Sat until 17:00; 11:00 and
15:00 are best to avoid groups; Nov-March Mon-Fri at 11:00
and 15:00 only, Sat-Sun on the hour 11:00-16:00; take a right
down narrow Stoofstraat to #26 on Walplein, tel. 050-444-
223, www.halvemaan.be.
Begijnhof:
Courtyard free and always open; Beguine's House
museum costs €2, open daily 10:00-17:00, shorter hours off-
season.
the WAlK Begins
market square (markt)
Ringed by the post office, lots of restaurant terraces, great old
gabled buildings, and the bell tower, this is the modern heart of
the city. And, in Bruges' heyday as a trading city, this was also the
center. The “typical” old buildings here were rebuilt in the 19th
century in an exaggerated Neo-Gothic style (Bruges is often called
“more Gothic than Gothic”). This pre-Martin Luther style was a
political statement for this Catholic town.
Formerly, a canal came right up to this square. Imagine boats
moored where the post off ice
stands today. In the 1300s,
farmers shipped their cotton,
wool, f la x, and hemp to the
port at Bruges. Before load-
ing it onto outgoing boats,
the industrious locals would
spin, weave, and dye it into a
finished product.
By 1400, the economy was
shifting away from textiles and toward more refined goods, such
as high-fashion items, tapestry, chairs, jewelry, and paper—a new
invention (replacing parchment) that was made in Flanders with
cotton that was shredded, soaked, and pressed.
The square is adorned with
flags,
including the red-white-
and-blue lion f lag of Bruges, the black-yellow-and-red f lag of
Belgium, and the blue-with-circle-of-yellow-stars f lag of the
European Union.
The
statue
depicts two friends, Jan Breidel and Pieter de
Coninc, clutching sword and shield and looking towards France
as they led a popular uprising against the French king in 1302.
