The Madonna and Child
Michelangelo's marble (1504) โ stolen twice and returned.
Wolfgang Staudt โ CC BY 2.0 ยท FrDr โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท stephanemat โ CC BY-SA 3.0 ยท Fred Romero from Paris, France โ CC BY 2.0
Enter the museum section (ticket) โ the statue stands in a side chapel behind a glass screen, seen reasonably close, and early morning is quietest. Combine it with the adjoining Gruuthuse Museum (its balcony overlooks the choir) and the Bonifacius Bridge behind the church โ the three are one corner. Take the combined Musea Brugge ticket if you will also visit the Groeninge and Sint-Jan.
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The Church of Our Lady in Bruges has one of the tallest brick towers in the world (115.5 metres) โ a thirteenth-century Gothic masterpiece dominating the city's southern skyline. But its most famous treasure is inside: Michelangelo's marble "Madonna and Child" (1504), the only work of his to leave Italy in his lifetime, bought by a Bruges merchant โ and stolen twice (by Napoleon, and by the Nazis as told in "The Monuments Men") and returned. In the choir stand two lavish gilded-bronze tombs of Mary of Burgundy (who died in 1482 falling from a horse) and her father Charles the Bold โ the last great dukes of Burgundy, and beneath the choir's glass floor lie recently discovered medieval painted graves. From the choir the private balcony of the Gruuthuse family overlooks from their adjoining palace. The church is free for prayer; the museum section (the statue, choir and tombs) is ticketed. Fully restored (2015โ2020). On the route between the Burg and the Beguinage.
Michelangelo's marble (1504) โ stolen twice and returned.
Gilded bronze for Mary and Charles the Bold.
Medieval murals beneath the glass floor.
Mariastraat, 8000 Bruges