Tour Manager Notes: Belgium

Overview

As a country, Belgium often suffers from prejudice and misconception. Europeans frequently blame their woes on “Brussels,” and many overseas visitors have only the vaguest idea of where Belgium is and what language is spoken there. For many, Belgium is a place you drive through to get somewhere else.

The country lies in that much fought over area where the Germanic and French cultures meet. It is a buffer between Catholic and Protestant, beer and wine, Germanic and Latin languages, and its history is often confusing and subordinated to the wider European picture. Like any melting pot, however, Belgium is all the more fascinating for it.

A Few Facts and Figures

Belgium is not much bigger than Sicily or Wales but has a population of around 10 million, giving an average density of 300 people per sq km, one of the highest in relation to its size anywhere. One tenth of the population lives in the capital, Brussels, and about 90% of the population is Catholic.

Languages:

About 5.8 million inhabitants speak Flemish (a form of Dutch).
About 3.3 million speak Walloon (French).
Around 67,600 German-speaking Belgians live in an area to the east of the country that was ceded by Germany after the First World War.

Brussels is a case apart, floating like a multilingual bubble in the southern part of the Flemish-speaking region. The city is officially bilingual, with around 85% of the inhabitants being French-speaking. Even here it is advisable to use English rather than French with Flemish speakers.

There is little of the cosy co-existence that you find in Switzerland, where different linguistic groups are united by a common history of democracy. In Belgium there is still considerable tension between Flemish and Walloon populations, often expressed through sensitivity to language. Broadly speaking, the south of the country is French-speaking and the north Flemish.

French was imposed in the 14th century by the Burgundians as the language of the ruling classes, and until the 19th century the French-speaking population had distinct political and economic supremacy over the Flemings. Since the World Wars, however, the balance has shifted. Heavy industry has declined in the south in favour of more modern industries in the north. In order to succeed in administration it is imperative to be bilingual, which most Walloons are not, and as a result the Flemish have gained the upper hand in the civil service and in public services such as the post office and railways.

History

The Belgians are uniquely used to other Europeans. They have had them traipsing in and out of their country since time immemorial, taxing it, looting it and butchering its inhabitants at frequent intervals since Roman times.

Early History

The earliest Belgians were Iron Age Celts, like most of their neighbours. In 52 BC Julius Caesar conquered them and praised the Belgae as the bravest of all the Gauls. The Romans stayed for four hundred years, and even then the Belgae showed a flair for commercial enterprise. Belgic textiles were exported throughout the Empire.

When the Roman Empire collapsed in the fifth century, the Belgae were invaded by the Franks, who established the Merovingian dynasty under Clovis I, with its capital in Tournai. Then, in 751, Pepin the Short ousted the Merovingians and founded the Carolingian dynasty. His son Charlemagne pushed back the Moors from Spain and extended his kingdom into Italy and southern Germany. He re-established a Western Empire, which was sanctioned by the Pope in a coronation ceremony in 800.

When Charlemagne died, his Empire was divided between his grandsons into three kingdoms: France, Germany and Lotharingia (named after Lothar, the eldest brother), an awkward swathe stretching from the Netherlands to northern Italy. This was inevitably going to cause problems for centuries to come. Present-day Belgium was bisected by this treaty along the River Scheldt, which helps explain the surviving linguistic division.

Medieval Fragmentation and the Crusades

So far Belgium’s history follows the outlines of the rest of Europe, but then things became complicated. With central government weak or non-existent and invasions rife, local barons carved out autonomous fiefdoms and fought among themselves with a regularity which becomes tedious to disentangle.

During this period, Belgian nobles distinguished themselves overseas. In 1096 many left for the First Crusade, where they covered themselves in glory. Two Flemish knights were the first Crusaders to enter Jerusalem, and Gottfried von Bouillon, from the Ardennes, was chosen to rule the city.

Burgundian Rule

Back in Belgium, attempts by the Emperor and various French kings to control the area failed. By the 13th century it was time for the emergence of the bourgeoisie, and the Belgians took to it with enthusiasm.

By the mid-13th century:

Bruges, then a port, had secured the monopoly of the valuable English wool trade.
Liège became renowned for arms manufacture.
Ghent and Ypres grew wealthy on fine cloth manufactured from imported English wool.

Rich merchants paid fortunes to enhance their towns with splendid Gothic guild halls, colleges, belfries and churches, in a situation reminiscent of the Italian city-states.

Without a strong central overlord, they were too rich to be left in peace. In 1302 King Philip the Fair of France invaded Flanders. At the Battle of the Golden Spurs, near Kortrijk (Courtrai), the gilded French cavalry were defeated by the Flemish burghers. After the battle the victors collected around 700 pairs of golden spurs and displayed them in Kortrijk Cathedral, and the victory is still celebrated today.

Their triumph was short-lived. Edward II of England, married to Philippa of Hainault, hatched a plan to gain control of Belgium and use it as a client state and back-door base, much as the French used Scotland. He proposed a marriage between his son and Margaret, heiress to Flanders, but the Pope blocked this by arranging Margaret’s marriage to the French king’s brother, Philip the Bold of Burgundy, in 1384.

This was the end of independence. Bit by bit, the Burgundians took control of most of what is Belgium today. The Duke’s power was supreme and his court at Bruges was a model for all Europe of dress, magnificence and etiquette. By absorbing Belgium, Burgundy had become the richest state in Europe.

From Burgundy to the Habsburgs

The French resented this, but eventually had a king who was not a weakling. Louis XI outmanoeuvred Charles the Rash (Charles the Bold) of Burgundy, who overreached himself in trying to unite his territories in the Low Countries and Burgundy by adding Alsace and Lorraine. Abandoned by his allies, Charles was defeated and killed at the Battle of Nancy in 1477, leaving his daughter Mary to sort out the mess.

Mary thwarted the French by marrying Maximilian of Austria rather than Louis’s son. This began 350 years of Habsburg rule in the Low Countries.

The Habsburgs were experts at acquiring land by marriage. Maximilian became Holy Roman Emperor in 1492 and his son Philip took control of the Low Countries. Philip married Joanna the Mad, daughter and heiress of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, and their son Charles, born in Ghent, inherited the lot and was crowned Emperor in 1519.

This was Charles V, ruler of an unprecedentedly large kingdom including:

Austria and Habsburg lands in central and eastern Europe up to the Turkish border
The Low Countries and Burgundy
Spain and its territories in the New World

Belgium was a tiny corner of this, but Charles had a soft spot for his birthplace and appointed able regents to govern there. The Belgians, pragmatic as ever, did not mope about lost freedoms but exploited the commercial opportunities of the Empire.

Commercial Golden Age and Growing Tensions

The decline of the Italian city-states and the shift of world trade out of the Mediterranean benefited Belgium. The banking houses of Antwerp financed the spice trade and the colonisation of the Americas. Flemish cloth, tapestries, pottery, glass and linen were exported throughout the world.

As wealth increased, so did discontent. There were frictions during Charles V’s reign over increased taxation to fund wars with France, but the real trouble started when Charles abdicated in 1555 and his son Philip II of Spain took over the Low Countries.

By then the Reformation had taken hold and Protestantism was spreading through northern Europe. Philip, a Catholic zealot, saw the cause of Spain as the cause of God. He quickly became unpopular when he raised taxes to finance his wars. Good Catholic citizens and Protestants alike were soon in revolt.

Margaret of Parma served as regent and William of Orange emerged as the champion of opposition. By the mid-1560s the Low Countries were in uproar and Protestant mobs launched an orgy of iconoclasm, smashing church decorations. Moderate opinion was horrified. William withdrew to Germany and Philip sent 10,000 troops under the Duke of Alba to restore order. Some 8,000 death sentences were pronounced, including those of Counts Egmont and Hornes, who were executed in Brussels.

William then led a campaign to expel the Spanish. The Duke of Alba fled and William entered Brussels in triumph in 1576 and Amsterdam in 1578.

North–South Split and the Spanish Netherlands

The Catholic south of the Low Countries (roughly modern Belgium) was not thrilled at being tied to a Protestant north (modern Netherlands). In 1578 Philip sent the Duke of Parma with a large army to exploit these divisions. He was rewarded with a series of capitulations in French-speaking provinces, which declared allegiance to Spain in the Union of Arras.

In response, the Protestant northern provinces declared their independence as the United Provinces, with William of Orange as stadhouder (governor). The Duke of Parma pressed on and took Antwerp and Brussels in 1585. Most of Flanders and the French-speaking provinces were back under Habsburg control and became known as the Spanish Netherlands. The independence of the United Provinces was sealed by treaty in 1609, at which point about 100,000 Protestants from Flanders emigrated north. From then on, the Netherlands and Belgium had separate histories.

Culturally, the golden age lingered into the early 17th century, but the spirit had been stamped out. The Dutch were the people of the future. By 1640 their navy had closed the Scheldt to international shipping, so Antwerp and other ports withered.

From the 1640s until 1830, Belgium was a provincial backwater while great powers fought over her territory. In 1715 Belgium was transferred from the Spanish to the Austrian Habsburgs, but despite well-meaning efforts the country remained stagnant.

Revolution, Napoleon and Independence

The French Revolution changed everything. In 1790 the Belgians, fired with revolutionary fervour, proclaimed a United States of Belgium, which the Austrians promptly suppressed. French kings had been trying to take over Belgium for centuries, and once the monarchy fell, the revolutionary government overran Belgium in the name of Liberty. Belgium was incorporated as a department of the French state.

This lasted until 1815, when Belgium again served as a battleground at Waterloo, near Brussels. The Congress of Vienna then “reunited” Belgium with the Netherlands, a move welcomed by the Dutch but disliked by conservative Catholic Belgian nationalists.

In 1830, apparently inspired by a patriotic song in an opera in Brussels, the people rioted and burned down the post office. A provisional government formed, the black-red-gold flag of Brabant was raised, and the Dutch were driven out with little resistance. It was a very middle-class revolution.

Britain, under Lord Palmerston, gave Belgium Queen Victoria’s uncle Leopold as king, and Belgium became an independent monarchy on the British model, its neutrality guaranteed by the great powers, including Prussia.

The new nation industrialised rapidly, especially in:

Coal, iron, steel and glass
Textiles
Ship-building in the southern French-speaking provinces

Under Leopold II, Belgium embarked on colonial expansion and in the 1880s took control of the Belgian Congo. The Congo brought enhanced status and considerable wealth through copper, tin, diamonds, rubber and cotton.

Belgium entered a period of progress and modernisation with a strong sense of pride, but failed to deal with two serious weaknesses:

Deepening Flemish–Walloon divisions. Flemish was not recognised as an official language until 1898, and many Flemings laboured in appalling conditions.
Defence. Belgium’s borders were left largely unprotected and conscription was resisted.

World War I

By the early 20th century, European powers were jostling for dominance. Leopold II saw the threat from Prussia and from Napoleon III’s France, but politicians cut defence budgets repeatedly. The frontiers were unfortified and conscription was opposed.

In 1914 the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand triggered World War I. Germany invaded Belgium, violating her neutrality, and advanced until halted near the French border. The armies dug in and fought a terrible war of attrition. Ancient cities were pounded into the mud and casualties reached millions. A quarter of a million British troops died in Flanders. Names such as Ypres, Passchendaele and Verdun are etched on memorials throughout France and England.

Some Flemish people initially welcomed the Germans as potential deliverers from Walloon domination, but the occupiers treated Belgians harshly, confiscating property and forcing labourers to work in Germany. King Albert I led the army in a spirited defence from the polders, flooding low-lying land to hinder the Germans.

When the Allies, backed by the United States, finally won, the country was devastated. Anti-Flemish feeling was intense and in 1919 the government ended Belgium’s formal neutrality with a treaty with France.

Between the Wars and World War II

After the war, Belgium struggled to recover amid global economic depression. The southern coalfields never fully revived, iron ore ran out, heavy industries declined and labour unrest grew. King Albert died in a mountaineering accident and was succeeded by his son Leopold III. Tragedy struck again when Leopold’s new wife, Princess Astrid of Sweden, was killed in a car accident near Lucerne.

In 1936 Belgium tried to reassert neutrality, but in May 1940 Hitler’s forces invaded the Netherlands and Belgium. Leopold III surrendered. The government went into exile in Britain, but Leopold remained in Belgium.

Once again, the German occupiers deported workers and rounded up Jews. Around 25,000 Belgian Jews died. It was also a time of great heroism as non-Jewish families hid Jews for years and an active resistance movement helped Allied airmen escape. Belgium also had its share of Nazi sympathisers, including two Flemish SS units.

Belgium was liberated in September 1944, but in December Field Marshal von Rundstedt launched a last-ditch counter-offensive across the Ardennes. American troops under General McAuliffe were trapped at Bastogne. Ordered to surrender, McAuliffe famously replied “Nuts!” and the Germans were eventually pushed back with a loss of 120,000 men.

Post-war Belgium and Federalism

After the war Belgium was free again but immediately faced a constitutional crisis over Leopold III’s conduct. Critics compared him unfavourably with his father during the First World War, accused him of Nazi sympathies and collaboration, and were scandalised by his wartime marriage to a commoner. Supporters argued that he had effectively been a prisoner, later deported to Germany, and that he had tried to soften the occupation, even meeting Hitler at Berchtesgaden.

The controversy reinforced Flemish–Walloon divisions. In a 1950 referendum, 57% of Flemings voted in favour of the king, but the Walloon provinces and Brussels voted against. Amid strikes and demonstrations, Leopold abdicated in favour of his son Baudoin.

Since the 1950s Belgium has regained its role as a major industrial and trading nation, albeit with a shift away from heavy industry. Independence was hastily granted to the Congo in 1960, leaving a problematic legacy there.

At home, Belgium gradually addressed its internal rifts. An increasingly devolved federal system created three autonomous regional areas in 1993:

Wallonia
Flanders
Brussels

These are overseen by a national government. As a founder member of the EU, Belgium’s view of itself within a European framework has helped it accommodate a confederation within its borders. By defining itself in European rather than strict national terms, there is less pressure to define a single national identity. History has taught Belgium to be flexible and to accept with good humour what is called the “Belgian Compromise.”

The Royal Family

The King of the Belgians has a role similar to the British monarch, but with a lower, more everyday profile, due to the relatively short history of the Belgian royal family and the lack of medieval trappings.

Modern popularity is largely due to King Baudoin I, who died in 1993. He became king on his twenty-first birthday during the constitutional crisis caused by his father Leopold III’s abdication. Baudoin was loved for his quiet manner and fair treatment of both Flemings and Walloons, whose languages he spoke fluently. He and his wife Fabiola, a Spanish princess, promoted family values with a common touch suited to a modern European monarchy.

Baudoin and Fabiola were unable to have children, which partly explains their interest in child welfare and abortion issues. In 1990 there was a constitutional crisis when Baudoin refused to sign a bill legalising abortion. In a neat legal solution, he abdicated for 24 hours while parliament passed the law. Many Belgians admired him for following his conscience, even if they disagreed.

Baudoin was succeeded in 1993 by his brother Albert II, whose wife is an Italian princess.

Tapestry and Lace

Tapestry

Tapestry grew out of the woollen textile industry that underpinned the medieval economy of Flanders. Arras in northern France was the first famous centre of production (hence the arras through which Polonius is stabbed in Hamlet), but from the mid-1500s this role passed to Tournai in western Belgium.

Tapestries were prized luxury items. They served not only as decoration but also as insulation against draughts in chilly castles. Along with beds, kitchen utensils and other furnishings, they travelled with the feudal aristocracy from one residence to another.

The Dukes of Burgundy encouraged Flemish tapestry production and, during the 16th century, the workshops of Bruges, Antwerp, Oudenaarde and especially Brussels grew in stature. Weavers copied designs from artists’ cartoons on horizontal looms, working on the reverse side so the final image was the mirror of the original. Mirrors behind the loom allowed them to monitor progress.

The great artists of the day often designed for tapestry. During the Renaissance, Brussels workshops became famous for handling complex theological, classical and allegorical themes. When Pope Leo X wanted tapestries for the Sistine Chapel, he sent Raphael’s designs to Brussels. The industry then set about imitating fine art, helped by a palette of more than 150 colour tones.

The austere neoclassical style that replaced baroque in the later 18th century began the decline of this five-hundred-year-old industry, but examples of Flemish tapestries can still be admired in Belgium and in stately homes throughout Europe.

Lace

Lace production has an equally long history and was originally made from linen, produced from flax grown in central Flanders. Lace was always a cottage industry but was made by women of many social ranks, notably by the thousands living in beguinages (see below). It was used for collars and cuffs for men and women, caps, handkerchiefs, shawls and bed linen.

By the 19th century, the Victorian passion for lace meant that machines supplied much of the demand, but there were still around 50,000 lacemakers in Belgium, 10,000 of them in Brussels.

In the 16th century lace making was essentially a form of embroidery. A hundred years later the dominant technique was needlepoint. Bobbin lace evolved in 18th-century Italy and soon spread to Belgium; this is the technique most often seen today.

Hand-made bobbin lace is extremely time-consuming, requiring thousands of carefully planned movements of bobbins and pins. Intricate patterns are formed by moving threads attached to bobbins in and out of pins pressed into a cushion. Complex lace may use over 100 separate threads, and it is astonishing to see the speed of an experienced lacemaker.

You can watch lace-making demonstrations at the Louise Verschueren shop in rue Watteeu in Brussels, and at the Kantcentrum in Bruges.

Beguinages

A beguinage (begijnhof) was a community of single women. The idea developed in the 13th century, partly in response to an imbalance caused by the Crusades, when there were simply not enough men to go around. Rather than living alone or with married relatives, unmarried women and widows might join a beguinage until they found a suitable partner.

They generally came from fairly well-to-do families, as they had to pay an entry fee and maintenance. These were pious communities, usually linked to a church, but the beguines were not nuns. They made simple vows of chastity and obedience to an elected superior, valid only for their stay.

They led modest but comfortable lives, assisted by servants, and spent their time in prayer, lace-making, baking biscuits and sweets, caring for the sick in their infirmary and distributing gifts to the poor.

Beguinages were widespread in the Low Countries until the 18th century and a few continue to operate today. There is one in Brussels (Anderlecht district), one in Bruges, and one in central Amsterdam. They remain peaceful places, small islands of tranquility that still reflect moderation and care.

Brussels and the EU

Within Europe, the British are often seen as the great feet-draggers in the EU, but all member states complain about agricultural policy and bureaucracy, usually blaming “Brussels.” In Brussels itself such reservations are less common. The city has gained status and financial benefits from being considered the “Capital of Europe” and Belgians have a particular sympathy for a European community, shaped by the experience of their country being overrun and mutilated twice in 25 years.

Brussels was a natural choice for European institutions, although:

The European Parliament still meets primarily in Strasbourg.
The European Court of Justice is in Luxembourg.

Belgium’s commitment to European unity began in 1948 with the creation of the Benelux economic area. NATO was founded in Brussels in 1948–49 and, when De Gaulle withdrew in 1960, its headquarters moved from Paris to Brussels.

In 1951 the European Coal and Steel Community, the cornerstone of the future Common Market, was formed. In 1955 delegates from Belgium, West Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy and Luxembourg met in Messina and drafted plans for the EEC. The 1957 Treaty of Rome declared the aim of closer union among European peoples and an end to past conflicts.

It is easy for post-war generations to take Western Europe’s peaceful progress for granted. To a country like Belgium there is more to the EU than complaints about sausage regulations or a common currency. The stability of Europe has ensured Belgium’s survival for longer than ever before.

Some Famous Belgians

Tintin
Tintin first appeared in 1929 and was created by the Brussels illustrator Hergé (pen name formed from his initials, RG). Innocent, brave and polite, Tintin reflects much of Hergé himself. The stories can show their age, but are driven by a strong sense of justice. He has never fully caught on in the US, so you might like to introduce him.
Jacques Brel
One of the greatest singer-songwriters of the 20th century. He wrote romantic songs such as “Ne Me Quitte Pas,” vivid portraits like “Dans le Port d’Amsterdam” and “Le Plat Pays,” and breakneck showpieces such as “Vierzon.”
Johnny Hallyday
Often called “our national rock star” by the French.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Father of a family of painters, active in the mid-1500s. Look for Bruegels in the Brussels Musée des Beaux-Arts.
Jan van Eyck
One of the outstanding northern European painters of the late medieval period.
René Magritte
One of the greatest and most accessible Surrealist painters.
Eddy Merckx
Legendary cyclist, five-time winner of the Tour de France.
Adolphe Sax
Invented the saxophone in 1845.
Georges Simenon
Crime novelist, creator of Inspector Maigret.
Jean-Claude Van Damme
Former karate champion turned action film star.

Food and Drink

Belgian food is usually good and rarely expensive, except in very upmarket Brussels restaurants catering to Eurocrats on expense accounts.

Most omnipresent specialities:

Frites – fries sold in paper cones on street corners, eaten with mayonnaise.
Gaufres – waffles, often topped with sugar, cream or fruit.

Belgian cuisine is hearty and north European, though lighter options (salads, fish, seafood) are widely available, especially near the coast.

Soups are very good, for example watercress soup. Waterzooi is a soup-like dish in which chicken is cooked with cream and vegetables. Another classic is moules et frites (mussels and fries).

Patisseries offer tempting fruit tarts and elaborate gateaux. Belgian biscuits are excellent, from crumbly buttery biscuits similar to shortbread to hard, spicy speculoos, which often accompany coffee.

Belgian chocolates are synonymous with indulgence. Fresh-cream chocolates have a limited shelf life but are remarkably inexpensive. It is worth stopping at the Godiva shop on the Grand Place or at Leonidas on Boulevard Anspach near the Bourse in Brussels.

Beer

Belgium has around 400 different kinds of beer, most of them very strong. Warn students that alcohol content ranges from about 5% up to 12% (there is even one called “Mort Subite”).

Everyday lagers such as Stella Artois and Jupiler are common, but the most interesting are uniquely Belgian:

Trappist beers – produced by Trappist monks, such as Chimay, Orval and Rochefort.
Abbey beers – similar styles produced by commercial breweries, such as Leffe, available in pale and dark varieties.
Wheat beers – “white” beers made with wheat rather than barley, cloudy in the glass.
Lambic beers – such as Gueuze, spontaneously fermented by airborne yeasts found only in Brussels and surroundings. Lambic can be slightly vinegary and is sometimes flavoured with cherries (kriek), raspberries (framboise) or caramel (faro).

Bruges Sightseeing

Once upon a time Bruges (Brugge in Flemish) was linked to the sea via the River Reie, which flowed into a deep inlet called the Zwin. The first Count of Flanders built a castle here to protect the coast from Viking raids and a town gradually grew around it.

In the 11th century Bruges became capital of the Duchy of Flanders and secured the monopoly of the English wool trade, the backbone of the Flemish textile industry. By the 13th century Bruges was one of the wealthiest cities in northern Europe, a busy port and a major member of the Hanseatic League.

By the late 13th century the city had:

Built a ring of defensive walls and ramparts with a moat
Channelled the Reie into a network of canals

Around 150 ships a day unloaded goods:

Wool, lead, tin, coal and cheese from England
Pigs from Denmark
Wood and salted fish from Scandinavia
Wine from Spain and Germany
Furs from Russia
Silks and spices from Venice and Genoa

All these were traded against Flemish textiles. Bruges claims to have had the first stock exchange in Europe. Shares and credit notes were traded outside the house of the Van der Beurse family, origin of the word “bourse”.

Politically, Bruges was divided. Under the Treaty of Verdun Flanders was a duchy of France. The French-speaking patricians favoured this, while the Flemish-speaking majority did not. They took opposing names:

Leliaerts – from the French fleur-de-lis
Clauwaerts – from the claws of the Flemish lion

In 1301, Bruges citizens were asked to pay for an extravagant display of power by Philip the Fair. The leaders of the Weavers’ and Butchers’ guilds led a revolt and, in the “Bruges Matins,” French troops were massacred, along with anyone who could not convincingly pronounce the Flemish password Schild en vriend. This revolt sparked the wider rebellion that led to the Battle of the Golden Spurs. After a brief period of triumph, the French reasserted their authority.

When the Low Countries passed to Burgundy, Bruges enjoyed another golden age lasting into the 15th century. It became a truly international city with a population of about 200,000 (London at the time had about 75,000). This was a dazzling era for Flemish art; Jan van Eyck, Hugo van der Goes and Hans Memling all worked in Bruges.

Two factors caused Bruges’s decline:

The silting of the Zwin, complete by the 1550s, cut off access to the sea and destroyed its role as a port.
Antwerp rose to dominance, and many Bruges merchants moved there.

Bruges languished until the publication of the 19th-century novel Bruges-la-Morte drew tourists, a tide that has never really stopped.

In the early 20th century the Boudewijn Canal linked Bruges to a new port at Zeebrugge. Today there is a thriving industrial sector set away from the historic centre.

Practical Walking Route in Bruges

Start: Bus park at the edge of Minnewater Park.

Minnewater (Lake of Love)
Walk to the Minnewater and cross the bridge by the gunpowder tower. Walk along the water and cross again at the next bridge. This artificial lake once connected to the sea via canals and was a hive of shipping activity. Today it is a quiet backwater, fitting its name, the “Lake of Love.”
Beguinage (Begijnhof)
Cross another bridge into the Beguinage, founded in 1235. It has tranquil white-painted gabled houses set around a grassy courtyard and cobbled paths shaded by tall trees. The church was built in 1602 to replace an earlier one destroyed by fire. You may see Benedictine sisters here; the original beguines left, and the Benedictines moved in during the 1930s.
Sint-Janshospitaal and Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk
Continue past Sint-Janshospitaal on your left, a city hospital dating back to the 12th century and in use until 1976. The Memling Museum is in the chapel. On your right is the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk (Church of Our Lady), an imposing church dating from 1220–1400, with one of the highest towers in Belgium. It is closed between 11:30 and 14:30. The interior is relatively simple but includes major baroque decoration, especially the rood screen. At the head of the south aisle, behind glass, is a Madonna and Child by Michelangelo, one of the few of his sculptures outside Italy, originally intended for Siena Cathedral.
In the fenced-off choir are the tombs of Charles the Bold and his daughter Mary of Burgundy, who married Maximilian of Austria (small entrance fee).
Gruuthusemuseum and Arentshuis
On leaving the church, turn right into Gruuthusestraat. This passes the Gruuthusemuseum, a 15th-century mansion named for the grain (gruut) once prepared here for brewing. The museum displays everyday objects used by Bruges’s merchant classes. A small wooden gallery leads across a bridge to an oratory overlooking the choir of Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk.
On the next corner is the Arentshuis, with a collection of works by the Anglo-Belgian artist Frank Brangwyn, associated with the Pre-Raphaelites. Opposite is a group of historic carriages and sleighs.
Groeningemuseum and Dijver
Continue along Dijver past the Groeningemuseum, which holds an outstanding collection of medieval art including works by Van Eyck, Bosch and other “Flemish Primitives,” as well as modern art. The Dijver runs alongside a scenic canal and is one of the most picturesque parts of old Bruges.
Huidenvettersplein and Canal Boats
Do not cross St John Nepomuk Bridge. Instead, go straight and turn left into Huidenvettersplein (Tanners’ Square), with the tanners’ guild house by the canal. This is where several companies offer canal boat trips. Trips last about 30 minutes and queues can be long in summer.
Vismarkt and Blinde Ezelstraat
Continue to the covered fish market, Vismarkt, on your right. Fish is still sold here every morning except Sunday and Monday on stone slabs under covered colonnades built in 1826. Cross the bridge and go down Blinde Ezelstraat (Blind Donkey Street), named after an inn that once stood there.
Burg Square (Historic Centre)
Walk under the arch to enter the historic heart of Bruges, the site of the original castle. Turn around to look at the main buildings:
- On the right of the arch is the Stadhuis (Town Hall).
- Further right and around the corner is the Basilica of the Holy Blood.
- The building with the arch you just passed through is the Old Recorder’s House, built in 1554 and topped by a gilded statue of Justice.
- On your right are the neoclassical Gerechtshof (Law Courts), which housed the courts until 1984 and now contain city administration offices and the Tourist Information Office.

Town Hall (Stadhuis)

Dating from 1376–1420, this is the oldest town hall in Belgium. Much restored, it is part medieval, part 19th-century medieval revival. Statues in the niches between the windows represent the Counts and Countesses of Flanders. Inside you can visit the splendid Gothic Hall on the upper floor (entrance fee).

Basilica of the Holy Blood

The lower church (entrance in the corner) is St Basil’s Chapel, named for a relic of St Basil (four vertebrae) brought back after the First Crusade in 1099.

To visit the Chapel of the Holy Blood, added in the 15th and 16th centuries, go outside and enter through the elaborate portal to the left, above which is a sculpted pelican wounding its breast to feed its young.

The relic is a glass vial said to contain Christ’s blood, washed from his body by Joseph of Arimathea. It was given to Derick, Count of Flanders, in 1148 during the Second Crusade and brought to Bruges in 1150, when the blood reportedly liquefied, an event it repeated each Friday until 1325. It became a major focus of devotion and miracles.

On Ascension Day the relic is carried in a procession through the city.

Provost’s House

This Baroque building dates from 1662, with an elaborate entrance crowned by a blindfolded Justice. It belonged to the provost of St Donatian’s Cathedral, which stood on the neighbouring open space until 1799, when it was destroyed by the French.

Markt (Market Square)
Take Breidelstraat to reach the Markt. This historic market square once hosted great trade fairs, jousts and public executions.
- To your right as you enter is the Provinciaal Hof, the imposing provincial government building (Bruges is the capital of West Flanders), built in neo-Gothic style in the 1880s.
- In the centre is a statue of Pieter de Coninck and Jan Breydel, leaders of the 1320 rebellion against the French.
- On your left, the Belfort (Belfry) rises above the Halle, a covered market dating partly from the 13th century. The Belfry served for centuries as watchtower, clock tower and symbol of Bruges’s independence. It is 83 m high and you can climb its 366 steps for splendid views over canals and rooftops. The climb takes you past the 47-bell carillon and the clock mechanism. The tower was once topped by a spire, destroyed by lightning in 1741.

This is the end of the walking tour. Give the group free time. On the square there are many banks, souvenir shops and restaurants.