The picturesque building with turrets to the L. of the church was originally the =mansion= of the family =Van der Gruuthuus=, one of the principal mediæval stocks of Bruges. It had a passage communicating with the family gallery in the church of Notre-Dame. The building, recently restored, is now in course of being fitted up for the Town Museum of Antiquities. A Museum of Lace is already installed in it; the entrance is by a doorway over the bridge to the left (50 c. per person). =Enter the church=, and walk straight into the Nave, below the great West Window, a spot which affords a good view of the centre of the church, the vaulted _double_ Aisles, and the angular Apse. The Choir is shut off from the body of the church by a very ugly marble Rood-Screen (1722), still bearing its crucifix, and with a figure of Our Lady, patroness of the church, enshrined above its central arch. Rococo statues of the Twelve Apostles, with their well-known symbols (1618), are attached to the pillars. (Note these symbols: they recur in similar situations everywhere.) In spite of hideous disfigurements, the main portion of the interior is still a fine specimen of good middle Gothic architecture, mainly of the 14th century. Walk up the =outer left Aisle=. The last bay is formed by the =Baptistery=, originally the =porch=, whose beautiful exterior we have already viewed. Its interior architecture is also very charming. It contains the Font, and the usual figure of the patron, St. John the Baptist. This Aisle terminates in an apsidal chapel (of the Holy Cross) containing inferior pictures of the 17th century, representing the history of a relic of the True Cross preserved here. The =inner left Aisle= leads to the =Ambulatory= or passage at the back of the Choir. The Confessionals to the R. have fairly good rococo carved woodwork, 1689. On the L. is the handsome mediæval woodwork =gallery= (1474), belonging to the Van der Gruuthuus family, originally approached by a passage from their mansion behind. Beneath it, is a screen of delicate early Gothic architecture, with family escutcheons above the door. The windows of the =Apse= have good modern stained glass. On the L., at the entrance to the Apse, Pourbus’s Adoration of the Shepherds, a winged picture, closed. The sacristan will open it. On the wings are, _left_, the donor, Sire Josse de Damhoudere, with his patron, St. Josse, and his four sons; _right_, his wife, Louise, with her five daughters, and her patron St. Louis of France, wearing his crown and robe of fleurs-de-lis, and holding the _main de justice_. He is represented older than is usual, or indeed historical, and in features somewhat resembles Henri IV. This is a fine picture for its master. On the outer wings are the cognate subjects, the Circumcision and the Adoration of the Magi, in grisaille. The chapel in the Apse, formerly the Lady Chapel, now contains the Host. It has a gaudy modern altar for the monstrance.