BRUGES 113

P Begijnhof

Wijngaardplein 1.

Tel (050) 360140. # daily.

The Bruges begijnhof was

founded in 1244 by Margaret

of Constantinople, Countess of

Flanders. Entered via an 18th-

century gatehouse at the end

of a bridge that runs over a

canal, this is an area of quiet

tree-lined paths faced by

white, gabled houses and

a pleasant green at the centre.

It is an enjoy able place for a

stroll and visitors can also walk

into the small church that was

built here in 1602. The nuns

who live in these houses

today are no longer béguines

Y Minnewater

Just south of the begijnhof,

Minnewater is a peaceful

park with a lake. The name

prob ably means innerwater,

but because minne is a Dutch

word for love, Minnewater

is often referred to as The

Lake of Love. Swans have

been on this site since 1488

when Maximilian of Austria

ordered that they be kept

in memory of his councillor,

Pierre Lanchals, who was

beheaded by the Bruges citi-

zens. The swan appears in

the Lanchals coat of arms.

Once a bustling harbour

connected to canals and the

sea, the Minnewater can today

be reached by the barges

that take visitors on a tour

of Bruges. It is also a popular

spot for walkers and picnick-

ers, featuring a pretty 15th-

century lock gate, sluicegate

house and the 1398 gun-

powder tower, Poedertoren.

The sluicegate house on the Southern Bridge at the Minnewater

E St-Janshospitaal and
Hans Memling Museum
Mariastraat 38. Tel (050) 448771.

9:30am–5pm Tue–Sun. & 9

7 = http://www.museabrugge.be
This site has been occupied
since the 12th century by the
St-Janshospitaal, which closed
as a working hospital only
in 1976. During Bruges’s
Burgundian Golden Age in
the 15th century, the great
German-born painter Hans
Memling (c.1433–94) created
a number of exqui site paint-
ings, commissioned specially
for the hospital chapel in
about 1479. The remark able
museum here today therefore
has two aspects. First, there
are the evocative medieval
hospital wards with antique
beds, medical instruments,
paintings and documentation
as well as an old apotheek

The soaring spire of the eclectic
Onthaalkerk Onze-Lieve-Vrouw

white walls, stark columns
and black-and-white tiled
floor has a medieval simplicity,
while the side chapels and
pulpit are lavishly decorated.
One of the church’s artistic
highlights is Michelangelo’s
1505 sculpture, Madonna
and Child, located at the end
of the southern aisle. This
marble statue was imported
by a Flemish merchant, and
was the only one of the artist’s
works to leave Italy during
his lifetime. In the choir, there
are fine paintings by Pieter
Pourbus (1523–84) including
his 1562 Last Supper and the
carved mausoleums of the
Burgundian duke Charles the
Bold and his daughter, Mary.

(pharmacy). Then, in the

open-plan site of the old

chapel, there is the small but

supreme collection of Hans

Memling’s paintings. This

includes the St Ursula Shrine,

a reliquary painted with scenes

from the legend of St Ursula,

The Adoration of the Magi and

the polyptych of The Mystic

Marriage of St Catherine

(see p102). The martyr doms

of St John the Baptist and

St John the Divine (to whom

the hospital was dedicated)

are illustrated in side-panels.

(see p61) but Benedictine

sisters who moved here in the

1930s. One of the houses is

open to visitors and dis plays

simple rustic furniture and

artifacts that illustrate the

béguines’ contemplative lives.

Warm brick tones in an inner courtyard of the St-Janshospitaal