A (photo-) blog about the beautiful Belgian town Bruges as seen through the very two eyes of an inhabitant. Sharp, witty, and... always admiring.
21-05-2006
Vlamingstraat 40
Bruges still has two houses with authentic wooden façades. Sorry to disappoint you, this is not one of them. This one can be seen when looking diagonally from across the theatre building, in the Vlamingstreet, on the corner of the Kraan square. This façade was re-done in 1963 and is the work of architect Antoine Dugardyn. He used iconographic sources as basis for his interpretation of how the house actually looked like in the year 1542. What is missing are the painted motifs at the top of the façade, who earlier illlustrated the name of the house "De Haan" = The Rooster.
21-05-2006, 00:00 geschreven door Blog from Bruges
Wollestraat - Eeckhoutstraat
Those street names would translate as "Woolstreet" and "Oakwood street". One more view of Bruges from the Halltower.
21-05-2006, 00:00 geschreven door Blog from Bruges
Leaving a business-card
Those Spaniards seem to have gone to quite some length to leave their business card on this bell in the Bruges bell-tower. All those who came here, high up in the Halltower, know what I mean. Did these Spaniards bring a ladder with them? If not, then they certainly were very acrobatic people.
21-05-2006, 00:00 geschreven door Blog from Bruges
The Sacres Blood procession
Four more days. Bruges' most celebrated day is almost upon us. This scene depicts the Resurrection of Christ. We have here two Roman soldiers fast asleep next to the burial grotto. The rock that closed theburial site off has been dragged aside and the grotto looks empty.
21-05-2006, 00:00 geschreven door Blog from Bruges
20-05-2006
New museum (2)
. Since it seems now suddenly possible to liberate money for a new museum, to be built on a section of the parking lot behind the Old Sint-Jan, why not cough up a serious amount of euro-millions to build an underground parking lot? Why not replace all this tarmac and these cars with, for example, a beautiful herb-garden? This is exactly what this whole area was, a few hundred years ago : a grand and magnificent herb-garden. Why could this not be created again? It would be one more tourist attraction and might become one of the most beautiful spots in the city, rather than the cancerous eye-sore we now have here. I even did take pains to show it from its best side
20-05-2006, 00:00 geschreven door Blog from Bruges
New museum
According to recent news reports, a new museum should soon rise up on this section of the parking lot of the Old Sint-Jan. Although press releases are numerous, their terms remain extraordinarily vague. But, whatever the case, I can only applaud the decision to finally do something about this cancer-spot in Bruges. This sight is an atrocity.
20-05-2006, 00:00 geschreven door Blog from Bruges
Spook Castle (2)
The stumbling block for our sweet and alert alderman Yves Roose (see previous commentary) is this thing here, which has no other aim than to heighten your pleasure at being rhoroughly horrified in this palace of... horrors. The May Fair and village fêtes in general have existed for centuries and the attractons which were shown in previous times were far different from the ones we now get to see. I am citing an article from the Gazette van Brugge, dated March 31, 1883 - a newspaper which had an obvious catholic penchant :
A Wonder "Yesterday there arrived here the most wondrous human being that was hitherto ever seen in Bruges. It is a negro, born on the shores of Lake Tanganyka in Africa. He was brought here by one of our officers, lieutenant Becker, who left Europe five years ago. The negro is of small stature and does not have a single hair on his head. His nose is flattened against his cheeks and is transperced by sharp spikes. His ears, pierced with heavy rings, are hanging on his shoulders. His eyes are red and his lower lip curls under his chin. In a word, the most wondrous negro that was ever seen in Bruges. He lodges in "Sebastiaan", with Mr. de Vos, on the Vrijdagmark near the station, where he shall remain until the opening of the Fair in Bruges. You can go and see him, against payment of a modest compensation."
20-05-2006, 00:00 geschreven door Blog from Bruges
Spook Castle
Alderman Yves Roose aspires to be the White of Morality. We saw him, last week, in the company of a few hundred people who were staging a demonstration, sitting with them in the middle of the Maalse Steenweg (the road to Maal), protesting against violence in our society. Fortunately, mayor Moenaert had given instructions to the police force to halt all motorized traffic for the duration of the sit-in. Otherwise, we might have lost alderman Roose. This week, "the Yves" popped up in the news again. He had been enjoying a walk along the Zand, where the May Fair happens to be in full swing. And there, Roose saw something which made his red mop of hair stand up : a doll, on an electric chair, right outside the Spook Castle. This is too much, shouted he, and immediately trotted of to his colleague, alderwoman Hilde Decleer (who has jurisdiction over fairs) to demand that she immediately have this repulsive feat of bad taste disappear from the May Fair.
20-05-2006, 00:00 geschreven door Blog from Bruges
Gustave Dryepondt (4th and last)
This pharmacy had quite a collection of old magisterial recipe books. During WWII the Germans confiscated these books and, unfortunately, they were never returned. Still, there is one preparation, based on one of those ancient recipes, by Dr. Dryepondt, that can be bought here. It is "Belamy Tea", recommended against kidney- and bladder inflammation. And, even better, it tastes delicious (yes, I did buy some and I did enjoy drinking it.)
20-05-2006, 00:00 geschreven door Blog from Bruges
Gustave Dryepondt (3)
The year 1835 on the façade refers to the year this house, named "Hemelrycke", at number 7 Wollestraat, (it is only a few paces from the Market) became a pharmacy. And it has remained a pharmacy since then. Thus, it is not the oldest pharmacy in Bruges, which does not make it less interesting. Quite to the contrary. The Dryepondt's renovated the interior in 1903, in the English style. Three generations of Dryepondts operated the business, until 1981, when the family left for Great-Britain. And now, we have the second generation of Baert's here.
20-05-2006, 00:00 geschreven door Blog from Bruges
Gustave Dryepondt (2)
As you can see, the medallion is in the façade of the "Dryepondt Pharmacy", and there is also one more date : 1835. My research in the municipal library, under "pharmacy" and under "Dryepondt" was fruitless. Well, not quite : I did find ample facts about parhmacies and pharmacists from the twelfth to the eighteenth century. Historical facts relating to the last hundred years, or even the more recent ones, seem to be harder to consign than the older ones. Thus, on to Internet. The result was just as pitiful. All I did learn was that Dr. Dryepondt had been in the army, that he went to the Congo, and that, together with Albert Donny, in 1900 he published a book with the title Manuel du voyageur et du résident au Congo (Manual for the traveller and resident in the Congo) (Brussels, ed. Hayez). The book is indeed devoted to travelling in the Congo and the hygiene and medical matters in that country. He also seems to have created the first hospital in what was then Leopoldville. I learned furthermore that he also discovered a new species of figtree which was named after him (vijgenboom ).
20-05-2006, 00:00 geschreven door Blog from Bruges
Gustave Dryepondt
I have been intrigued for quite some time by this medallion on the façade of number 7, Wolle street (Wool street). It shows a figure, in profile, of a somewhat older man, who has a mustache and a beard. On top, we read "1866-1932", and underneath "Doctor Dryepondt, pioneer colonial". My first inquiry only revealed that the medallion was th work of Victor Demanet and that it was placed here in 1939.
20-05-2006, 00:00 geschreven door Blog from Bruges
The Sacred Blood processionHeilig Bloedprocessie
The Holy Tomb This artwork was made in 1702 Mourners (pleuranten) are walking on each side of the tomb. (Van Dale : pleurant = mourning figure on, or against a tombstone)
20-05-2006, 00:00 geschreven door Blog from Bruges
19-05-2006
Pandreitje (3)
This, too, is Bruges. The city of Bruges, known the world over from the postcards showing its small boats, small trees, small lanes, coaches, Halltowers, lace, chocolates, lovers, the love-ponds, Venice-of-the-North and lacemakers' bobbins.
19-05-2006, 00:00 geschreven door Blog from Bruges
Pandreitje (2)
It took me a serious effort to get used to the sight of these houses who were set down where the "Pandreitje" stood. However, I did reconcile myself with their presence better than most and, in fact, I am able to admit they are not bad. Modern Bruges is allowed to have them. I am not saying that I would ever want to live there (imagine having to put your trash outside on a wintry evening or early morning, when it's still pitch black...brrrr). But it does create a nagging. Something to do with the beauty of sadness, of grayness, of, yes, modern coquetry with Bruges-la-Morte. Notwithstanding all that, I can see where these houses make for spacious, clean and comfortable living.
19-05-2006, 00:00 geschreven door Blog from Bruges
Pandreitje (Pawn lane)
For the older citizens of Bruges, the name "Pandreitje" is synonymous with "prison". However, the prison has disappeared quite some time ago. Even doctor Lecompte did some time inside, after he had a run-in with the Order of Physicians. Imagine, this prison was about a thousand years old. From high up in the Halltower, one immediately sees the spot where the "Pandreitje" used to be. While the rest of the inner city shows uniformly red roofs, the modern building where the "Pandreitje" used to be got a blue roof, and the colour of the bricks used to plant the new building down is also in sharp contrast to the lighter colours of the environment.
19-05-2006, 00:00 geschreven door Blog from Bruges
Market
The Market, an hour ago. Picure of a moment in time. In front, the small busses who take you on a grand tour and even bring you to the Verloren Hoek, that is, "The Lost Corner". Behind them, the coaches who take you to the Begijnhof. Every effort is done to please and inform the tourists who come to Bruges. The fact that this morning the busses seem to be more in demand than the coaches might have something to do with... the weather. And, notice too, the grandstand being put up in preparation for the coming Sacred Blood procession. Those orange things are the small chairs.
19-05-2006, 00:00 geschreven door Blog from Bruges
Kipstraat (Hen street)
I was already out on the streets, this morning. I just cannot resist the urge. Am I then really a "Bruges streetmopper"? This is the small Kipstreet, the subject of a quiz-question some time ago. Here is how it looked this morning.
19-05-2006, 00:00 geschreven door Blog from Bruges
18-05-2006
When you leave...
Hildegarde was asking me : what are the origins of these words, which we find on the Barge house. Well, no, it is not the owner of the Barge house who put them there. It was the city of Bruges. It was the "Year of Guido Gezelle", our famed poet and the motto "strong be the language of the words", also by Gezelle. A number of artists, gathered under the banner of @rtwords-@rtwords, were invited to express the city's image in words. The official mandate was : use language to paint the image of Bruges and bring it into its historical core. I can only surmise that Peter Verhelst, born in Bruges, is the author of the words found on the Barge house. One of his texts is also adorns the back of the seats in the Concert Hall. Moreover, it is also Verhelst who wrote the official poem of the city of Bruges (2002, cultural capital of Europe) - "On a day they appeared/they swarmed/over the city and nestled/we gave them our food/On a day, they disappeared/And yet, they stayed/We had them visit us at night/In our own, strange-coloured dreams." Both texts do have the same tenor.
18-05-2006, 00:00 geschreven door Blog from Bruges
When I come back....
"When you leave, will you be coming back? When I come back, will you be here?"
I cannot think of a better spot to have this text than exactly there where the greatest number of day-tourists are gathering to leave the city : where their bus is waiting to take them back home.
18-05-2006, 00:00 geschreven door Blog from Bruges
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