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A city of northwest Belgium connected by canal with the North Sea. It was founded in the 9th century and was a leading member of the Hanseatic League in the 13th century. Today the old city is a popular tourist center known as “the City of Bridges.” Population: 117,000.
Bruges was founded on an inlet of the North Sea in the 9th cent. and became (11th cent.) a center of trade with England. In the 13th cent. it flourished as the major entrepôt port of the Hanseatic League and as one of the chief wool-processing centers of Flanders. New ports (notably Sluis) were founded to help accommodate its increasing trade. At its zenith (14th cent.), Bruges was one of the major commercial hubs of Europe. An early commune of the Low Countries, the city held extensive political privileges and often played a part in the chronic struggle between England, France, and the counts of Flanders. Its government, at first in patrician hands, gradually passed to the trade guilds of the wool industry.
When Philip IV of France annexed Flanders in 1301, Bruges led the rebellion against him. The French garrison was massacred (1302), and shortly afterward the citizen-army of Bruges was led to victory in the Battle of the Spurs. Despite frequent political disturbances, Bruges continued to prosper until the Flemish wool industry declined (early 15th cent.) as a result of foreign competition. In addition, the North Sea inlet on which Bruges was located silted up completely by 1490, and the city lost its access to the sea and to its outer ports. By c.1500, Antwerp had replaced Bruges as the chief entrepôt of N Europe. The commercial and industrial revival of Bruges began only in 1895, with the start of extensive repairs to its port; in 1907 the Zeebrugge canal was opened. The city was occupied by the Germans in World Wars I and II.
Bruges was the cradle of Flemish art during the rule (14th–15th cent.) of the Burgundian dukes in Flanders. Jan van Eyck, Gerard David, and many other masters are richly represented in the churches, public buildings, and museums of the city. Among its noted structures are the Hospital of St. John (12th cent.), containing several masterpieces by Hans Memling; the 13th-century market hall or cloth-workers hall, with its famous carillon; the city hall (14th cent.); the Church of Notre Dame (13th–15th cent.), with the tombs of Charles the Bold and Mary of Burgundy and with Michelangelo's Virgin; the Cathedral of St. Salvator (begun 10th cent.); and the Chapel of the Precious Blood (begun 12th cent.), a major site of pilgrimage. The Procession of Holy Blood, an annual religious pageant, takes place on Ascension Day.
The country code is: 32
The city code is: 50
 BrugesBrugge (Dutch) |
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| Geography | ||
| Country | 
Belgium |
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| Community |  Flemish Community |
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| Region | Flemish Region |
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| Province |  West Flanders |
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| Arrondissement | Bruges | |
| Coordinates | Coordinates: | |
| Area | 138.40 km² | |
| Population (Source: NIS) | ||
| Population – Males – Females - Density |
117,224 (January 1, 2006) 48.43% 51.57% 847 inhab./km² |
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| Age distribution 0–19 years 20–64 years 65+ years |
(01/01/2006) 20.57% 59.34% 20.09% |
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| Foreigners | 3.52% (01/01/2007) | |
| Economy | ||
| Unemployment rate | 7.40% (January 1, 2006) | |
| Mean annual income | 13,617 €/pers. (2003) | |
| Government | ||
| Mayor | Patrick Moenaert (CD&V) | |
| Governing parties | CD&V, SP.A-Spirit, VLD | |
| Other information | ||
| Postal codes | 8000, 8200, 8310, 8380 | |
| Area codes | 050 | |
| Web address | www.brugge.be | |
Bruges (Dutch: Brugge, stemming from Bryggja, which assumedly used to signify 'landing stage' or 'port') is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country.
The historic city centre is a prominent World Heritage Site of UNESCO. It's egg-shaped and about 430 ha in size. The surface of the complete city amounts to more than 13,840 ha, including 193.7 ha off the coast, at Zeebrugge. The city's total population is more than 117,000, of which ca. 20,000 live in the historic centre.
Bruges has a significant economic importance, thanks to its port, and is also home to the College of Europe.
Very few traces of human activity date from the Pre-Roman Gaul era. The first fortifications were built after Julius Caesar's conquest of the Menapii in the 1st century BC to protect the coastal area against pirates. The Franks took over the whole region from the Romans around the 4th century and administered it as the Pagus Flandrensis. The Viking incursions of the 9th century prompted Baldwin I, Count of Flanders to reinforce the Roman fortifications; trade soon resumed with England and Scandinavia. It is at around this time that coins appeared bearing for the first time the name Bryggia, a name that may have the same origin as Norway’s Bryggen.
Bruges got its city charter on July 27, 1128 and built itself new walls and canals. Since about 1050, gradual silting had caused the city to lose its direct access to the sea. A storm in 1134, however, re-established this access, through the creation of a natural channel at the Zwin. The new sea arm stretched all the way to Damme, a city that became the commercial outpost for Bruges.
With the reawakening of town life in the twelfth century, a wool market, a woollens weaving industry, and the market for cloth all profited from the shelter of city walls, where surpluses could be safely accumulated under the patronage of the counts of Flanders. Bruges was already included in the circuit of the Flemish cloth fairs at the beginning of the thirteenth century. The city's entrepreneurs reached out to make economic colonies of England and Scotland's wool-producing districts. English contacts brought Normandy grain and Gascon wines. Hanseatic ships filled the harbor, which had to be expanded beyond Damme to Sluys to accommodate the new cog-ships. In 1277, the first merchant fleet from Genoa appeared in the port of Bruges, first of the merchant colony that made Bruges the main link to the trade of the Mediterranean. This development opened not only the trade in spices from the Levant, but also advanced commercial and financial techniques and a flood of capital that soon took over the banking of Bruges. The Bourse opened in 1309 and developed into the most sophisticated money market of the Low Countries in the fourteenth century. By the time Venetian galleys first appeared, in 1314, they were latecomers.[1]
Such wealth gave rise to social upheavals, which were for the most part harshly contained. In 1302, however, the population joined forces with the Count of Flanders against the French, culminating in the victory at the Battle of the Golden Spurs, fought near Kortrijk on July 11. The statue of Jan Breydel and Pieter de Coninck, the leaders of the uprising, can still be seen on the Big Market square.
In the 15th century, Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy set up court in Bruges, as well as Brussels and Lille, attracting a number of artists, bankers, and other prominent personalities from all over Europe.
The new Flemish-school, oil-painting techniques gained world renown. The first book in English ever printed was published in Bruges by William Caxton. This is also the time when Edward IV and Richard III of England spent time in exile here. The population swelled to more than 40,000 inhabitants.
Starting around 1500, the Zwin channel, which had given the city its prosperity, also started silting. The city soon fell behind Antwerp as the economic flagship of the Low Countries. During the 17th century, the lace industry took off and various efforts to bring back the glorious past were taken. The maritime infrastructure was modernized, and new connections with the sea were built, but without much success. Bruges became impoverished and gradually disappeared from the picture. George Rodenbach even named the sleepy city Bruges-la-Morte meaning Bruges-the-dead. In the last half of the 19th century Bruges became one of the world's first tourist destinations attracting wealthy British and French tourists. Only in the second half of the twentieth century has the city started to reclaim some of its past glory. The port of Zeebrugge was built in 1907. The Germans used it for their U-boats in World War I. It was greatly expanded in the 1970s and early 1980s and has became one of Europe's most important and modern ports. International tourism has boomed and new efforts have resulted in Bruges being designated 'European Capital of Culture' in 2002.
The municipality comprises:
| Historic Centre of Bruges* | |
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| UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
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| State Party | Belgium |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | ii, iv, vi |
| Reference | 996 |
| Region† | Europe and North America |
| Inscription History | |
| Inscription | 2000 (24th Session) |
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* Name as
inscribed on World Heritage List. † Region as classified by UNESCO. |
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Bruges has most of its medieval architecture intact. The historic centre of Bruges is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000.[2]
There are many worth seeing medieval buildings, including the Church of Our Lady, whose brick spire - at 122m - makes it one of the world's highest brick towers/buildings. The sculpture Madonna and Child, which can be seen in the transept, is believed to be Michelangelo's only sculpture to have left Italy within his lifetime.
Bruges is also famous for its 13th-century Belfry, housing a municipal Carillon comprising 47 bells. The city still employs a full-time bell ringer, Aimé Lombaért, who puts on regular free concerts.
Other famous buildings in Bruges include:
Bruges also has a very fine collection of medieval and early modern art, including the world-famous collection of
Flemish Primitives. Various masters, such as Hans Memling and Jan van Eyck, lived and worked in Bruges.
 Northwestern view from the Belfry |
 Church of Our Lady |
 Dijver and Church of Our Lady |
 Provinciaal Hof (Provincial Court) |
 Gateway (Kruispoort) |
 Beguinage |
 Groenerei |
 An aerial view over one of Bruges' canals |
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Bruges has excellent road connections from all directions (
Driving within the 'egg', the historical centre enclosed by the main circle of canals in Bruges, is discouraged by traffic management schemes, including a network of one way streets. The system encourages the use of set routes leading to central car parks and direct exit routes. The car parks are convenient for the central commercial and tourist areas; they are inexpensive.
Bruges' main railway station provides at least hourly trains to all other major cities of Belgium. Further there are several regional and local trains.
The main station is also a stop for the Thalys train Paris - Brussels - Ostend.
Bus links to the centre are frequent, though the railway station is just a 20 minute walk from the Market square.
The national Brussels Airport, one hour away by train or car, offers the best international connectivity. The nearest airport is the Ostend-Bruges International Airport in Ostend (±20 km from Bruges), but it offers limited passenger transport and connections.
Bruges has an extensive web of bus lines, operated by De Lijn, providing access to the city centre and the suburbs (city lines, Dutch: stadslijnen) and to many towns and villages in the region around the city (regional lines, Dutch: streeklijnen).
Plans for a north-south light rail connection through Bruges, that would join up with the Belgian Coast Tram in Zeebrugge, and a light rail connection between Bruges and Ostend are under construction.
Although a few streets are restricted, no part of Bruges is car free.
Cars are required to yield to pedestrians and cyclists. Plans have long been under way to ban cars altogether from the historic center of Bruges or to restrict traffic much more than it currently is, but these plans have yet to come to fruition. In 2005, signs were changed for the convenience of cyclists, allowing two-way cycle traffic on more streets, however car traffic has not decreased. Recent cycle fatalities have increased pressure to close bridges and further calm inner Bruges, but laws have not yet passed. Due to heavily populated suburbs, bus traffic is high on the narrow streets. This makes cycling even trickier.
Nethertheless, in common with many cities in the region, there are thousands of cyclists in the city of Bruges.
The port of Bruges is Zeebrugge. It's the most modern and second biggest port of Belgium and one of the biggest and most important in Europe.
The following people were born in Bruges:
In the 15th century, the city became the magnet for a number of prominent personalities:
The fictional supervillain, Doctor Evil, from the Austin Powers movie series, is also supposed to be from Bruges.
On principle, Bruges has up till now never gone into close collaboration with so-called twin sisters. Without denying the usefulness of this schemes for towns with less international contacts, the main reason is that Bruges would find it difficult to choose between cities and thinks that it has enough work already with its many international contacts. Too often also, it was thought in Bruges, was twinning mostly an occasion for city authorities and representatives to travel on public expense.
This principle resulted in the nineteen fifties in Bruges refusing a 'jumelage' with Nice and other towns, signed by a Belgian ambassador without previous consultation. In the seventies, a Belgian consul in Oldenburg made the mayor of Bruges sign a 'declaration of friendship' which he tried to present, in vain, as a 'jumelage'
The twinning between some of the former communes, merged with Bruges in 1971, were discontinued.
This does not mean that Bruges would not be interested in cooperation with others, as well in the short term as in the long run, for particular projects. Here follow a few examples.
Bastogne
After World War II and into the seventies, Bruges, more in particular the Fire Brigade of Bruges, entertained friendly relations with Bastogne in the province of Luxemburg. Each year a free holiday was offered at the seaside in Zeebrugge, to children from the Nuts city.
Arolsen
From the fifties on until the eighties, Bruges was the patron of the Belgian First Regiment of Horse Guards, quartered in Arolsen (Germany)
Salamanca
Both towns having been made European Capital of Culture in 2002, Bruges had some exchanges organized with Salamanca (Spain).
Mons
In 2007, cultural and artistic cooperation between Mons (Hainaut) and Bruges was inaugurated.
Burgos
The mayors of Burgos (Spain) and Bruges have signed on 29th January 2007 a declaration of intent about future cooperation on cultural, touristic and economic matters.
| Municipalities in the Province of West Flanders, Flanders, Belgium | |
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| Bruges | Beernem · Blankenberge · Bruges/Brugge · Damme · Jabbeke · Knokke-Heist · Oostkamp · Torhout · Zedelgem · Zuienkerke |
| Diksmuide | Diksmuide · Houthulst · Koekelare · Kortemark · Lo-Reninge |
| Kortrijk | Anzegem · Avelgem · Deerlijk · Harelbeke · Kortrijk · Kuurne · Lendelede · Menen · Spiere-Helkijn · Waregem · Wevelgem · Zwevegem |
| Ostend | Bredene · De Haan · Gistel · Ichtegem · Middelkerke · Oostende/Ostend · Oudenburg |
| Roeselare | Hooglede · Ingelmunster · Izegem · Ledegem · Lichtervelde · Moorslede · Roeselare · Staden |
| Tielt | Ardooie · Dentergem · Meulebeke · Oostrozebeke · Pittem · Ruiselede · Tielt · Wielsbeke · Wingene |
| Veurne | Alveringem · De Panne · Koksijde · Nieuwpoort · Veurne |
| Ypres | Heuvelland · Ieper/Ypres · Langemark-Poelkapelle · Mesen · Poperinge · Vleteren · Wervik · Zonnebeke |
 European Capitals of Culture |
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1985 Athens · 1986 Florence · 1987 Amsterdam · 1988 West Berlin · 1989 Paris · 1990 Glasgow · 1991 Dublin · 1992 Madrid · 1993 Antwerp · 1994 Lisbon · 1995 Luxembourg City · 1996 Copenhagen · 1997 Thessaloniki · 1998 Stockholm · 1999 Weimar · 2000 Reykjavík · Bergen · Helsinki · Brussels · Prague · Kraków · Santiago de Compostela · Avignon · Bologna · 2001 Rotterdam · Porto · 2002 Bruges · Salamanca · 2003 Graz · 2004 Genoa · Lille · 2005 Cork · 2006 Patras · 2007 Luxembourg City and Greater Region · Sibiu · 2008 Liverpool · Stavanger · 2009 Linz · Vilnius · 2010 Essen · Pécs · Istanbul · 2011 Turku · Tallinn · 2012 Maribor · Guimarães |
| World Heritage Sites in Belgium | |
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Belfries of Belgium and France (with France) · Bruges (city centre) · Flemish Béguinages · Four Lifts on the Canal du Centre and their Environs, La Louvière and Le Rœulx, Hainault · Grand-Place, Brussels · Major Town Houses of the Architect Victor Horta, Brussels · Neolithic Flint Mines at Spiennes (Mons) · Notre-Dame Cathedral, Tournai · Plantin-Moretus House-Workshops-Museum Complex |
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