Godshuis Van Volden: Sanctuary of the Old Burgher

Why is it significant?

Step through the arched brick entryway at number fifty Boeveriestraat and feel the quiet stillness of Godshuis Van Volden settle around you.

Key Facts

Open the walk

Step through the arched brick entryway at number fifty Boeveriestraat and feel the quiet stillness of Godshuis Van Volden settle around you. Founded in sixteen fourteen by wealthy city councillor Gerard van Volden, this tranquil almshouse complex was established to provide free lifelong shelter, winter peat fuel, and daily bread to elderly impoverished men who had fallen upon hard times in old age. The whitewashed brick facades feature low eaves, tiny mullioned windows with green wooden frames, and red-tiled roofs that catch the soft Flemish morning light with timeless quiet.

The almshouses, or Godshuizen in Flemish, were a unique philanthropic institution of medieval and Renaissance Bruges. Wealthy merchants, trade guilds, and pious widows built these enclaves of modest whitewashed cottages around central herb gardens, requiring the elderly residents in return to say daily rosary prayers for the salvation of the benefactor's soul in purgatory. Gerard van Volden established clear moral guidelines in his foundation deed: residents were required to lead peaceful, temperate lives, attend daily chapel prayers, and observe a strict evening curfew.

Notice the miniature private chapel dedicated to Saint Joseph standing in the corner of the courtyard, its leaded-glass windows and tiny bell turret dating to sixteen thirty-four. Inside, the original carved oak pews, altarpiece, and Latin prayer plaques remain intact, preserving the contemplative spiritual routine that sustained generations of residents across four centuries.

At its peak, Bruges possessed more than one hundred independent Godshuizen, providing an early communal welfare safety net that was centuries ahead of its time. Today, forty-five of these historic almshouse complexes still survive, owned and lovingly maintained by the municipal social welfare council to provide peaceful subsidized housing for elderly citizens of Bruges. The garden in the center was traditionally divided into communal herb beds where sage, thyme, lavender, and chamomile were grown for simple home remedies and herbal teas.

Walk out into Boeveriestraat and head north along the brick wall toward the monumental wooden gatehouse of Sint-Godelieveabdij.