Exploring Bruges, Belgium's Medieval City, Along the Route of the Film In Bruges
A Zemgales Ziņas author describes a visit to Bruges and its main sights. Bruges is the administrative centre of West Flanders in western Belgium, and its historic centre has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2000.
An author for the regional Latvian outlet Zemgales Ziņas shares her impressions of the Belgian city of Bruges and describes the places worth seeing there. She opens by recalling her first visit, when her youngest daughter was about one year old. The daughter was born in the same year the film “In Bruges” was released, and the film gives the article its title.
Bruges lies in western Belgium and is the administrative centre of the province of West Flanders. Tourism websites describe it as one of the most beautiful and best-preserved medieval cities in Europe. It is often called the Venice of Belgium because canals wind through its historic centre. The centre has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2000. The city's layout, street network and canals have largely stayed the same since the Middle Ages, when Bruges was one of Europe's leading trade and cultural metropolises. Brick Gothic, typical of Northern Europe, dominates the centre.
What to see
The city walls of the 12th century are gone, but their location is marked by moats and four historic gates. In the 15th century the centre was home to early Flemish painters, including Jan van Eyck and Hans Memling.
The Market Square is the heart of the city. It holds the Belfry bell tower, and merchants gathered there for centuries. Burg Square was once the city's centre of administrative and political power. The 14th-century town hall and the Basilica of the Holy Blood stand there. The Hanseatic quarter bears witness to the time when Bruges was the last, and one of the most important, points in the chain of Hanseatic trade routes.
