Burg Square & Stadhuis: Cradle of the Flemish State

Why is it significant?

Step into the solemn architectural splendor of the Burg, the ancient fortified courtyard where the Counts of Flanders established their stronghold in the ninth century to repel Viking raiders.

Key Facts

Open the walk

Step into the solemn architectural splendor of the Burg, the ancient fortified courtyard where the Counts of Flanders established their stronghold in the ninth century to repel Viking raiders. Directly before you rises the Stadhuis, the magnificent Gothic City Hall whose delicate turrets, stone statues of counts, and tall mullioned windows served as the architectural prototype for town halls across Belgium, embodying centuries of legal and political sovereignty.

Commenced in thirteen seventy-six by Count Louis of Male and completed in fourteen twenty-one, the Stadhuis is the oldest monumental city hall in the Low Countries. Inside, the breathtaking Gothic Hall features a polychrome oak vault carved in thirteen eighty-five with allegorical scenes of the seasons, complemented by grand nineteenth-century historical murals illustrating pivotal moments of Flemish freedom and medieval municipal self-government.

In the southwestern corner of the square stands the double-decker Basilica of the Holy Blood, comprising a somber twelfth-century Romanesque chapel dedicated to Saint Basil below and an opulent Gothic chapel above. The church preserves a rock-crystal phial containing a cloth soaked in the blood of Jesus Christ, brought back from the Second Crusade and venerated by millions of pilgrims since the thirteenth century. The annual Holy Blood Procession, held on Ascension Day since twelve ninety-one, sees the sacred relic carried through the streets of Bruges by thousands of citizens dressed in authentic biblical attire, recognized by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage.

To the right of the Stadhuis stands the Old Civil Registry, or Oude Griffie, adorned with gleaming gilded figures of Justice and Moses. Inside is the monumental Charles the Fifth chimney, crafted in fifteen twenty-eight from carved oak, alabaster, and black marble to commemorate the Habsburg victory over French King Francis the First, standing as a marvel of Renaissance decorative sculpture.

Stroll between the Stadhuis and the Old Civil Registry through the vaulted archway of the Blind Donkey Alley, emerging directly onto the historic canal quayside.