Jeruzalemkerk & Adornes Domain: The Pilgrim's Shrine

Why is it significant?

Gaze upon the utterly unique, mysterious silhouette of the Jeruzalemkerk, whose octagonal stone tower is topped by an astrological sphere, a cross of Jerusalem, and a wheel of fortune.

Key Facts

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Gaze upon the utterly unique, mysterious silhouette of the Jeruzalemkerk, whose octagonal stone tower is topped by an astrological sphere, a cross of Jerusalem, and a wheel of fortune. Built in the fourteen twenties by the aristocratic Adornes family, wealthy merchants who had emigrated from the Italian republic of Genoa, this private chapel is one of the most enigmatic religious buildings in Western Europe. The peculiar church tower rises in three distinct stages, culminating in a wooden lantern topped by a painted celestial sphere, creating an exotic architectural silhouette unlike any other church in Belgium.

In fourteen seventy, Anselm Adornes embarked on an epic pilgrimage across the Mediterranean to the Holy Land, visiting Cairo, Mount Sinai, and Jerusalem. Upon his safe return to Bruges, he radically remodeled the family chapel to replicate the architectural layout and dimensions of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

Step inside the intimate, dimly lit sanctuary where original fifteenth-century stained glass depicts Anselm Adornes and his wife Margaretha van der Banck kneeling in prayer. In the center of the nave rises their magnificent joint tomb carved from black Tournai stone, crowned by finely detailed effigies of the noble couple dressed in fur-trimmed Burgundian robes with faithful dogs at their feet.

Duck your head and crawl into the low, vaulted underground crypt beneath the high altar. Here, in absolute silence, you will find a realistic replica of the Tomb of Christ, complete with a sculpted stone figure of the dead Jesus lying behind an iron grill, exactly as pilgrims experienced the sacred tomb in Jerusalem during the Middle Ages. Remarkably, the Jeruzalemkerk remains private family property to this day, still owned and lovingly maintained by direct descendants of the Adornes family through the charitable Adornes Domain foundation.

Step out through the cobblestone Adornes courtyard onto Peperstraat, turn left into Balstraat, and walk toward the domed brick tower of the Engels Klooster on Carmersstraat.