Church of Our Lady, Bruges

In the 9th Century, there was a chapel on the site of what is now the Church of Our Lady in Bruges.  Originally, this location was just outside of the town boundaries but as the town grew, the chapel was replaced, first by a Romanesque church and then, in the 13th Century, construction began on the gothic church we see today.

The church tower was completed in the 14th Century and it is still the second highest brick structure in the world.  The tower was hit in 1938, by a warplane loaded with bombs which thankfully did not explode. Part of the church's popularity comes from it's possession of Michelangelo’s ‘Madonna and Child’.

The tomb of Charles the Bold is empty, even though his great-grandson, Emperor Charles V, had his remains returned to Bruges.  It is thought that they were buried in St. Donatian’s Cathedral, which was demolished in 1792.

Charles the Bold’s daughter, Mary of Burgundy, does lie in her tomb, although it was not always in this location.  It had been moved and was returned to its original position in the chancel, in 1806.  When it was repositioned, an archaeological investigation found Mary’s remains and they were returned to their original location. Mary’s tomb was commissioned by her husband, Maximilian of Austria, in the late 15th Century.  Her death mask was used to create the brasswork in her likeness.

Mary of Burgundy died at the age of 25 while out falconing with her husband, Maximilian I, who was the Holy Roman Emperor, as well as Archduke of Austria.  Mary was an accomplished rider but her horse tripped, throwing her off and landing on top of her, which broke her back. When her body was exhumed in the 1990’s, x-rays showed that one of her wrists had been broken and her pelvis had been crushed. 

The church suffered in the 16th Century when hostilities between Spain and the Netherlands broke out. The Geuzen and iconoclasts caused destruction to many of the Catholic churches.  It was in the 17th Century that the churches were restored and redecorated, and therefore often contain Baroque features which was the fashion of the time.

Archaeologists working in the church also discovered the remains and graves of 16 priests and clerics, which date from the 13th to 15th Centuries.  The graves themselves are made of brick, with the interior sides having been painted.

The small bridge at the back of the Church of Our Lady looks medieval, but is actually a Victorian representation of what it was thought a medieval bridge should look like.