WHAT TO SEE IN BRUGES IN ONE DAY: ART, MUSEUMS AND PLACES YOU CAN’T MISS IN THE MOST ROMANTIC CITY OF FLANDERS
What to see in Bruges in one day and where to go? If you want to immerse yourself in an old-time atmosphere, you must go to Flanders and more precisely to Bruges. There have been sparks between me and Bruges, and after few days after my return home, I felt the desire to come back to be surrounded by the fascination of this city full of art again. I visited Bruges in one day and in this post I’ll tell you what I saw to help you not to waste your time searching where the monuments and most important places are located.
Visiting Bruges in one day
BRUGES IN ONE DAY: THE BURG, VAN EYCK SQUARE AND THE MOST IMPORTANT PLACES
Walking along the streets of Bruges you can observe how the city has preserved his medieval aspect and of the so-called “Golden Age” intact. In the 15th century in Bruges lived and worked artists such as van Eyck and Hans Memling, who created works for noble families and wealthy traders coming from all over the world.
The visit to Bruges, therefore, is fascinating because it will make you go back in time and crossing, for example, the quarter of the artists, where there’s the place where van Eyck lived and worked, or the Burg, where is the church where the Flemish artist was buried, or you can enter the house of an Italian banker who sent many works by van Eyck to Italy. A fascinating walk along the streets of Bruges that I described in the post Van Eyck and the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb: a masterpiece in Flanders.
If you want to visit Bruges in one day you should be accompanied by a local tour guide. I did and in about two hours I saw the main places and squares of the city, finding out also some curious facts.
BRUGES IN ONE DAY: THE VISIT TO THE HISTORIUM
The Historium is an interesting place which completes the visit to Bruges, because it can make you a real dive into the past. It’s the story of Jacob, an apprentice of van Eyck, who will guide visitors to discover Bruges of 1437, of the characters who inhabited it and the lifestyle of those who lived in the city to make art, do business or seek their fortune. It’s an engaging virtual journey which through videos and special effects made me feel like I lived in Bruges in the 15th century. The Historium is one of most visited attractions in Bruges.
BRUGES IN ONE DAY: THE GROENINGE MUSEUM AND ST. JOHN’S HOSPITAL
In only one day you can’t visit many museums but there are two museums you shouldn’t miss: the Groeninge Museum and St. John’s Hospital.They are not large, but rather are small museums but with a great concentration of masterpieces!
The Groeninge Museum offers an overview on Flemish painting, and the presence of a wonderful work by van Eyck is enough to make this museum a gem to be visited in Bruges.The painting you must see is “The Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele”, painted in 1436, where you can appreciate the perfection of oil painting of the Flemish artist, considered the painter who brought it to highest level.
The Sint-Janshospital (St. John’s Hospital), instead, with its eight-century history as a place for poor, pilgrims, travellers and sick people is a place you should visit for its architecture but also for its collection of works of works by Hans Memling. You must see the “Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine” and the Shrine of St. Ursula.
Groeningemuseum
READ ALSO: What to do in Brussels in one day: where to go and what to see