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38 Route 3. BRUGES. Centre of City:
a Renaissance edifice built in 1535-37, restored in 1881-84, and
profusely adorned with gilding and statues; it is now a court of law
(Justice de Paix). The carved doors of the court-room (on the
groundfloor in front; open to visitors), executed by Ant. Lambrouck
in 1544, were formerly in the cathedral. — The vaulted passage
below the Ancien Greffe leads to the Blinde Ezel Straat (p. 35).
In the corner, adjoining ne Hé6tel de Ville on the right, is the
Chapelle du Saint-Sang (Pl. 2, C, 5; adm., see p. 24; ring at the
concierge’s dwelling in the ene) a smalland elegant church of two
stories, founded by Theodoric of Alsace, Count of Flanders (p. 25),
and his wife Sibylla of Anjou. It derives its appellation from some
drops of the blood of the Saviour, brought from the Holy Land in
1150’ by Theodoric and presented to the city. The lower story
dates from 1150, the upper was rebuilt in the 15th cent.; the portal
and staircase, constructed in 1533, in the richest Flamboyant style,
and seriously damaged by the sansculottes during the Revolution,
were restored in 1819-39.
The Lower CHapen (entrance next the concierge’s door), dedicated to
St. Basil, consists of nave and aisles, with a choir of the same breadth as
the nave, and rests on low round pillars. It was restored in 1896-97.
The Upper Cuaret, reached from the Place by the staircase mentioned
above, has no aisles. The decorations of the chapel are modern, The
stained-glass windows, comprising portraits of Burgundian dukes (copies
from the drawings mentioned on p. 39) and Hapsburg princes, were exe-
cuted in 1847. The W. window, with the history of the Passion and the
conveyance of the Holy Blood to ‘Bruges, was executed in 1856. The pulpit,
consisting of a globe resting on clouds, is by H. Pulince the Elder (4728).
In the S. wall are three arches opening on a Chapel, where the Holy
Blood is exhibited (see p. 24). The marble altar of the chapel, bearing a
massive Silver crucifix, dates from the 18th century. Above, on the en-
trance-wall, are two pictures: G. de Crayer (?), Pieta; Jac. van Oost the Elder,
Descent from the Cross (1649). :
A room to the right of the vestibule contains the small Museum of the
church, On the entrance-wall: a piece of tapestry of 1637, the Transport-
ation of the body of St. Augustine to Sardinia; two handsome vestments of
the 16th cent., etc. — On the wall to the left: piece of lace of 1684 (under
glass); the Chasse du Saint-Sang, a silver-gilt reliquary (4 ft. 3 in. high,
2 ft. broad), studded with gems, which was made in 1614-17 by Jan Crabbe
of Bruges. Adjoining are two pictures by P. Powrbus, with portraits of
members of the Brotherhood of the Holy Blood (1556), and a winged picture
in the style of Herri met de Bles, pourtraying the Bearing of the Cross,
Crucifixion, and Resurrection. — "Between the windows is a painting of
the Bruges School (ca. 1460; so-called Master of the Legend of St. Lucia,
see p. 40), with two scenes from legends.
On the wall to the right is a Pieta, a winged picture by the ‘Master
of the Chapelle du Saint-Sang’, wrongly attributed to Gerard David. On the
wings are Mary Magdalen, with Cleophas, and Joseph of Arimathea, with
an unknown man. In the background is Mt. Calvary.
In the windows and on the desk-case are fragments of the old stained glass
of the upper church of 1542, with the designs from which it was executed.
At the E. angle of the market-place is the unassuming Palais
de Justice (PI. C, 5), built in 1722-27, on the site of the town-
hall of the Frane de Bruges (‘Het Brugsche Vrye’), or district of the
‘Buitenpoorters’, i.e. inhabitants ‘outside the gate’, who were not
subject to the jurisdiction of the city, The picturesque rear-portion |