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Blog from Bruges

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Zaterdag 20 mei 2006

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."

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Zaterdag 20 mei 2006

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.

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Zaterdag 20 mei 2006

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.)

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Zaterdag 20 mei 2006

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.

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Zaterdag 20 mei 2006

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 ).
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Zaterdag 20 mei 2006

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.

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Zaterdag 20 mei 2006

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) 
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Vrijdag 19 mei 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.

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Vrijdag 19 mei 2006

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.
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Vrijdag 19 mei 2006

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.


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Vrijdag 19 mei 2006

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.

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Vrijdag 19 mei 2006

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.
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Donderdag 18 mei 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.
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Donderdag 18 mei 2006

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.
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Donderdag 18 mei 2006

street musician

Seen recently on television, in one of those Reality-TV programs named "Life as it is : OCMW" (Public Centre for Social Assistance). This particular sequence was filmed in Bruges and, if you happened to view it, you might remember having seen this street-musician. He could no longer pay his rent because he did not find/seek enough work and found himself with family and belongings in the street and, ultimately, had to rely on the Public Welfare organization.

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Donderdag 18 mei 2006

From my archives

Dark-weather days are a perfect occasion to delve in my archives. Taking photos when it rains does have its charm, but that is mostly lost on me

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Donderdag 18 mei 2006

The Sacred Blood procession


The most significant day in the life of Bruges is almost upon us. Let's hope the weather shall be better than what it is like today (and, listening to the weather forecast, let's also hope for the next few days). Rain is the bane of a procession with thousands of participants, all decked out in magnificent costumes. Most of these beautiful clothes can hardly be rainproofed.
This is the Stabat Mater, surrounded by a chorus of girls. The Pieta statue,  Mary holding her deceased son on her lap, symbolizes the unspeakable suffering which is also the lot of those surviving the deceased.  

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Donderdag 18 mei 2006

Je t' adore

In the words of Kate Ryan :

"je t' adore,
anyone can see it."

I am talking about Bruges.
Whom was Kate Ryan singing about, tonight?
(she was Belgium's representative at the Eurovision songfest)
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Donderdag 18 mei 2006

Sint Amands street

.
All these houses with the corbie gables are in the Sint Amands street and in the foreground is the Sint Amands square.

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Donderdag 18 mei 2006

As the crow flies..

It's rather nice to find these arrows, at every lookout of the Belfort, pointing towards cities and villages surrounding Bruges. Some are nearby, some others quite far away but the distances are all indicated,  in kilometers... as the crow flies.
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