The Spell of Flanders: An Outline of the History, Legends and Art of Belgium's Famous Northern ProvincesVose, Edward Neville
History
The Spell of Flanders: An Outline of the History, Legends and Art of Belgium's Famous Northern Provinces
Vose, Edward Neville
Flanders -- Description and travel
small number of other works from his brush are listed in the
catalogues of various European museums.
[Footnote 2: They were probably destroyed during the burning of
Louvain by the Germans.]
Of the other structures in Bruges of to-day there are a score that
merit a visit from those who are interested in the city's splendid
past, and that date for the most part from the last years of the
Burgundian period. In the rue des Aiguilles there still exists a
fragment of the Hotel Bladelin, the town house of Peter Bladelin, who
was for many years Controller-General of Finance, Treasurer of the
Order of the Golden Fleece, and the trusted agent of the Dukes in all
manner of business and private affairs. Peter subsequently built the
town of Middleburg, for the church in which Van der Weyden painted one
of his most famous pictures. The Ghistelhof in the same street also
dates from this epoch, and was built by the Lords of Ghistelle. Then
there is the Hotel d'Adornes and the church of Jerusalem, which was
formerly the private chapel of the rich brothers Anselm and John
Adornes. There is still a fine mediæval atmosphere lingering about
this group of buildings, although much altered from what they were in
their prime. The church itself is most curious, and beneath the choir
is a crypt that leads to a reproduction of the Holy Sepulchre, said to
be a facsimile of the one in the garden of Joseph of Arimathea. It
would take a volume to cite all of the fine old structures of which
traces still exist in this, the most picturesque of all the Flemish
cities. The reader who desires to find them all cannot do better than
to take Ernest Gilliat-Smith's brilliant _Story of Bruges_ with him
and look for them, one by one. For those who cannot devote a week or
more to this delightful task a quicker way to see the Bruges of
Charles the Bold is to stroll slowly along the Quai Vert, the Quai des
Marbriers and the Quai du Rosaire and let the beautiful vistas of the
Vieux Bourg with its quaint red roofs and noble towers become engraved
upon the memory, for here, more completely than anywhere else, one can
see the Bruges of the past much as it looked in the day of its
greatest splendour when it was about to sink into its long sleep.
Thus far Bruges has not suffered seriously from the war, and it is
profoundly to be hoped that no bombardment such as crumbled its fair
neighbour Termonde into utter ruin will create similar havoc amid
these indescribably beautiful scenes. A few hours would suffice to
destroy artistic and architectural treasures of a value that would
make the destruction of Louvain seem of little consequence in
comparison.
[Illustration: QUAI VERT, BRUGES.]
CHAPTER XV
MALINES IN THE TIME OF MARGARET OF AUSTRIA
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