The Magic of Bruges

The Magic of Bruges, a photo by Jeka World Photography (Catching up!!) on Flickr.

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One evening while wondering the cobblestone alleys of Bruges the soaring 119m (396-ft.) spire of the Church of Our Lady (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk) standing high above the streets and canals, seemed to almost glow red as the last rays of the days sunlight clung to it. Bruges is truly a magical place despite how colin farrells character on in Bruges felt about it. “If I'd grown up on a farm and was retarded, Bruges might impress me. But I didn't, so it doesn't.” A medieval city that makes you go back centuries the first second you enter it, through its old houses, canals with beautiful swans and warm, picturesque market squares. The bourgeois feeling is mesmerizing you wherever you go, on the cobbled streets with charming historical houses or along the canals that you can find almost anywhere. The historic city centre was added to the Unesco’s World Heritage List and the current city boundaries still coincide exactly with those of the medieval city centre.

About The Church of Our Lady:

(Dutch: Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk) in Bruges, Belgium, dates mainly from the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries.
Its tower, at 119 meters in height, remains the tallest structure in the city and the second tallest brickwork tower in the world (the tallest being the St. Martin's Church in Landshut, Germany).
In the choir space behind the high altar are the tombs of Charles the Bold, last Valois Duke of Burgundy, and his daughter, the duchess Mary. The gilded bronze effigies of both father and daughter repose at full length on polished slabs of black stone. Both are crowned, and Charles is represented in full armor and wearing the decoration of the Order of the Golden Fleece.
The altarpiece of the large chapel in the southern aisle enshrines the most celebrated art treasure of the church—a white marble sculpture of the Madonna and Child created by Michelangelo around 1504. Probably meant originally for Siena Cathedral, it was purchased in Italy by two Brugean merchants, the brothers Jan and Alexander Mouscron, and in 1514 donated to its present home. The sculpture was twice recovered after being looted by foreign occupiers—French revolutionaries circa 1794 and Nazi Germans in 1944.

About Bruges:
/ˈbruːʒ/ in English; Dutch: Brugge, [ˈbrʏʝə], French: Bruges, [ˈbʁyːʒ], German: Brügge, [ˈbrʏɡə]) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country.
The historic city centre is a prominent World Heritage Site of UNESCO. It is oval-shaped and about 430 hectares in size. The area of the whole city amounts to more than 13,840 hectares, including 1,075 hectares off the coast, at Zeebrugge (meaning "Brugge aan Zee" or "Bruges on Sea"). The city's total population is 117,073 (1 January 2008), of which around 20,000 live in the historic centre. The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of 616 km² and has a total of 255,844 inhabitants as of 1 January 2008.
Along with a few other canal-based northern cities, such as Amsterdam, it is sometimes referred to as "The Venice of the North".
Bruges has a significant economic importance thanks to its port. At one time, it was the "chief commercial city" of the world.