The chapel over the street
Mass from the palace straight onto the church choir.
Wolfgang Staudt — CC BY 2.0 · Dietmar Rabich — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Dietmar Rabich — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Marc Ryckaert (MJJR) — CC BY 3.0
The Gruuthuse Museum is the palace of Lodewijk van Gruuthuse, Bruges' richest nobleman of the fifteenth century (he held the monopoly on the "gruut" tax — the herb mixture used in brewing before hops): a grand Gothic palace on the canal beside the Church of Our Lady, with its courtyard, stone façade and tower — fully restored and reopened in 2019 as Bruges' elegant museum of city history. The visit tells five hundred years of the city in three eras: its Burgundian golden age (tapestries, manuscripts, weapons), the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (ceramics, lace, silver), and the nineteenth century when Bruges rediscovered itself as a neo-Gothic city. Its gem: the private chapel built over the street to overlook the choir of the Church of Our Lady directly — so the nobleman attended mass from his palace. On the Dijver with the Groeninge and Sint-Jan — Bruges' museum trio on the combined ticket, and its new glass pavilion has a fine view.
Mass from the palace straight onto the church choir.
Tapestries and manuscripts from Bruges' golden peak.
The craft the city was famous for over centuries.
Dijver 17, 8000 Bruges
Bonifacius BridgeThe Bonifacius Bridge is Bruges' smallest and most romantic bridge: a little sto1 minute walk4.6
Church of Our LadyThe Church of Our Lady in Bruges has one of the tallest brick towers in the worl1 minute walk4.7
Groeninge MuseumThe Groeninge Museum is Bruges' fine-arts museum and the home of the "Flemish Pr2 minutes walk4.5
St John's Hospital (Memling Museum)St John's Hospital (Sint-Janshospitaal) is among Europe's oldest surviving hospi3 minutes walk4.4
St Salvator's CathedralSt Salvator's Cathedral is Bruges' oldest parish church — founded in the tenth c3 minutes walk4.7Three on the Dijver within steps: Groeninge (art: Van Eyck), Sint-Jan (Memling and the medieval hospital), Gruuthuse (city history and the palace). For the art lover: Groeninge first. For history and architecture: Gruuthuse. For atmosphere and place: Sint-Jan. The combined ticket covers them in one museum day.