Sint-Salvatorskathedraal: Bruges' Oldest Sanctuary

Why is it significant?

Gaze up at the massive, fortress-like western tower of Sint-Salvatorskathedraal, rising eighty meters above the tree-shaded square of Sint-Salvatorskerkhof.

Key Facts

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Gaze up at the massive, fortress-like western tower of Sint-Salvatorskathedraal, rising eighty meters above the tree-shaded square of Sint-Salvatorskerkhof. Founded in the ninth century by Saint Eligius as a modest timber chapel, this is the oldest parish church in Bruges, elevated to the status of city cathedral in eighteen thirty-four after the French Revolution destroyed the older Sint-Donaas cathedral on the Burg.

The lower tiers of the colossal western tower are constructed from heavy grey Tournai limestone, dating to eleven twenty-seven in the Romanesque style, while the upper brick lantern was added in the nineteenth century by English Gothic Revival architect Robert Chantrell following a disastrous fire that gutted the roof. The cathedral's soaring brick walls are anchored by flying buttresses and arched lancet windows that illustrate the evolution of Flemish Gothic architecture from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries. Chantrell's neo-Romanesque tower cap was inspired by English cathedral design, harmonizing surprisingly well with the weathered medieval brickwork of the lower stories.

Step inside the vast three-aisled interior to admire the breath-taking collection of art treasures. High above the choir stalls hang eight colossal eighteenth-century tapestries woven in Brussels by master weaver Jasper van der Borght, based on cartoon designs by painter Lodewijk van Schoor, depicting the life of Christ with vibrant botanical borders.

In the transept sits the magnificent Baroque rood screen carved in sixteen eighty-two by Artus Quellinus the Younger, crowned by an imposing black and white marble statue of God the Father gazing down with compassionate majesty. The cathedral treasury also safeguards thirteenth-century enameled reliquaries, gold chalices, and medieval painted lead coffins excavated from beneath the nave. The choir contains fifteen magnificent fifteenth-century carved oak stalls displaying the painted coats of arms of the knights of the Order of the Golden Fleece, who held their thirteenth chapter here in fourteen seventy-eight.

Leave the cathedral through the north door, walk down Dweersstraat, and turn into Beenhouwersstraat to enter the secret park of Hof Sebrechts.