Bruges by night

In Bruges, even a water-drain can be embellished in a special manner. Standing on the small Blind Doneky Bridge, or on the Fish Market, you can see this one when you look towards the bottom of the building where several municipal services are to be found.

Almost everywhere in the inner city, there is, or there has been, a convent. Part of this wall of the Groeninge Museum, for instance, belonged to the Eeckhout Abbey. And the artifact hanging on this wall... might it have been a Holy-water basin?

A last look at the Minnewater Clinic in the Professor J. Sebrecht street, near the Minnewater and the station. This photo shows the high-relief white stone sculpture above the clinic's entrance. It represents Our Gracious Lady and child, surrounded by "the sick and the suffering", flanked to the right and the left by two angels. Under the two canopies there are, to the left, Saint-Joseph holding a lily, and to the right Saint-Donaas, patron of the Bruges bishopry. White St-Joire stone was used for the two statues (1m40 high). They are the work of Bruges sculptor P. de Wispelaere

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The magnificent façade and entrance to the huge building, known as the "Minnewater clinic".

Simply tho show how impressive this building really is : this photo was taken from the beguinage court, and as one can see, the beguinage houses, while not exactly being the smallest houses around, look minuscule against the background of this clinic behind them.
The Minnewater clinic, which now, besides living as well as care facilities, also houses the "Palliative Care" Service, was original in use by the Sisters of Love. On October 18, 1892, the Sisters officially opened the building as the Saint-Anthony Institution, for the care of needy women
Shortly before World War 2, the Sisters left the building and under the initiative of Professor-doctor J. Sebrechts (for whom the street is named), the nearby Saint-John's Hospital took it over, thus adding additional space for its medical science department. However, the completion of this project had to wait till 1947 because the German invader had in the meantime exercised its own options for the building. When, in 1977, the move of the Saint-John's Clinic to its then brand-new complex outside the city walls, another use for the now empty building had to be devised. And thus it is that, as already mentioned, it became a living and caregiving facilities, to which the Palliative Care Service was added somewhat later.

Let's look at the Minnewater Clinic some more, from the other side of the street. This impressive building was erected between 1884 and 1892. The architect was none other than Louis Delacencerie, the man who put a serious stamp on Bruges at the end of the 19th century : the neo-gothic style, inspired by the gothic style of Bruges. Typical of this gothic style are the red bricks, bays, pointed-arch windows, gabled façade, bowfriezes and high chimney funnels, all  elements combined here in a particular manner. 

O ja:  deze gevel, mocht u ooit de neiging voelen om het na te meten, is om en bij de 175 meter lang.
This building has the longest façade in Bruges. It takes up a complete side of the Professor Dr.J. Sebrecht street and the building is known as the Minnewater Clinic. The attic is where one finds the O.C.M.W. archives (Public Welfare Organizations) the very extensive and interesting archives of, for instance, the Welfare Bureau, the Magdalena Leprosy, the Beguinage, the Sint-Jans hospital, the godshouses, etc. As well as the many interesting documents (the oldest is dated 1185) one also finds here the OCMW art-collection. The archives are open upon request but those are few and far between for the simple reason that there is still no permanent personnel to make up a complete and detailed inventory for this very important archive. I know, it is a question of money. But, if it can be done for the Provincial and Town archives, why can it not be done here? And, oh yes, and should you want to measure the length of this façade, you will see that it comes to about 175 m.

".Zonnekloppers", roughly translated as "Sunclappers" is a typical Flemish expression to indicate people who love nothing better than lying in the sun. Where most people are dragging themselves along in the heat and are trying to find a cool spot and protection from this very warm weather, we also have a type of persons for whom it is never too warm. Those are the true, unadulterated Zonnekloppers.

... on the first floor of the Wollestreet number 9. You saw them once before, by day, here deze foto. Now you can see them at work late in the evening.

Just in case you found it hard to believe that the previous photo was a reflection in the Dijver, and not the building itself, here you have a detail of the previous picture showing a slight rimpling in the water. It goes to show that sometimes, the illusion is more beautiful than the reality.

Walking along the Dijver, I got to enjoy one of my pet pleasures : a magnificent reflection. This is the back of the OCMW buiulding, reflected in the water.

  
Can I convince you to a bit of a warm-up (hah, what's in a word...) in preparation for the new installment of "Benenwerk" (Legwork)? "Benenwerk" will be the very proper closing event of the Klinkers festival, for the fifth consecutive year. Some sequences are already famous. As, for example, "Silent Stage" a ball where people are dancing to music chosen by the DJ but... heard exclusively through your telephone head-set. The "Silent Stage" dance takes place in the inner courts of the Townhalls.. Better be there early as otherwise, you will have to wait patiently in the queue before you manage to squeeze in. The event has recently been packed and it's only when a participant decides to leave, and gives you his/her headphone that you are allowed inside. "Benenwerk" happens on the evening of August 12, in twelve different spots in the inner city. For more info, check here :  de website. 

Every Sunday morning in July and August, if I am right, from 10:00 a.m. till 12:30, the KBSK (the Royal Chess Circle of Bruges) organizes a chess-tournament in the Minnewater park. Most people never notice that a huge chess-board is installed in the Minnewater park. Smaller tables, of the normal size, are built all around it so people can play a game. Most often though, one sees tourists sitting here, eating a sandwich, or somebody reading a book, although these tables were installed for the chess-players. And, as you can see, young and old come here to play. It would seem that this older player finds the strategy of his young opponent not so easy to overcome.

There are quite a few private hotels in Bruges. This one, built in the neo-classical style, in the Geerwijnstreet, is a beautiful example. Built in 1870, probably the work of architect Pierre Buyck.

This impressive private hotel has a remarkable entrance with a balcony above it. It seems a notary now has his cabinet here.

On the façade of this private hotel at 11-13 Geeerwijnstreet, one can see this stone. Daniel Gillès was born here on May 7, 1917 and died on May 8, 1981. Why did somebody write the figure 3 there? The man wrote several books (in French), one of them "The Mists of Bruges" (1962), about Bruges, of course, what else with this title. It is a guide to the city. If the book is no longer available in book stores, you can still find it in the Bruges Municipal Library. Our Canadian visitors might like to know that as of May 2006, a copy is available at the Victoria University in Toronto.
http://library.vicu.utoronto.ca/new_acqu/Previous%20Lists/may_06.htm
under the reference:  PQ Literature of the Romance Languages

The filming of the third sequel of "Aspe", a television thriller-serial with Superintendant Van In as principal character, is already in full swing in Bruges. Yet, we will only get to view the second sequel on the small screen, this coming Fall. Only the first part of this serial was based on the books written by Pieter Aspe, who had his main character move from Bruges to Blankenberge and even to Antwerp. The producers of the television series found it preferable to keep him in Bruges. They want "Aspe" to be as representative of Bruges as "Flikken" is of Ghent. And for the (television) home of Superintendant Van In, a role being held by Herbert Flack, this house here, on the left of the Wijngaard square, has been chosen.

During the Middle Ages this is where originally the city's crane had been erected. And where now we see a street, there was a wharf, the Kraanvest. When the wharf became obsolete and a crane was no longer needed, a cover was built over this area and in 1771 and 1772, the resulting building was used as a meat market. It is now a bicycle-renting business aimed at the tourist trade. Before that, it was a grocery store. The classical-style building is one of the hundreds of protected monuments in Bruges.