Bruges
a city of Belgium, capital of West Flanders, at the junction of the canals from Ghent, Ostend, and L'Ecluse, 7 miles from the North Sea, and 60 miles N. W. of Brussels; lat. 51° 12′ 30″ N., long. 3° 13' 44" E. The city has a circumference of nearly 4½ miles, and is entered by six gates. Many large and BRUGES noble ancient mansions and spacious public edifices present their pointed gables to the streets, and afford interesting specimens of the ornamental Gothic architecture of the Middle Ages. Among the most remarkable public edifices are the Cathedral of Notre Dame (Onser Vrouw), the old Gothic Hospital of St.
John, and the elegant church of St.
Saviour. In the great square is a lofty Gothic tower or belfry, the most beautiful in Europe, and its chimes are harmonious. In this tower there are 48 bells, some 600000 THE BELFRY OF BRUGES weighing six tons; they are played upon every quarter of an hour by means of an immense copper cylinder communicating with the clock, and weighing about nine tons. Its surface is pierced by 30,500 square holes, so that an infinite variety of airs may be set upon it, by merely shifting the iron pegs that lift the hammers. The Ostend canal presents an expanse of surface that resembles a stately river. There are many bridges across the numerous canals, by which the streets are intersected; hence, the Flemish name of the place-Brügge, that is, bridges; in French, Bruges. The chief manufactures before the World War were woolens, linens, cottons, lace, dye works, sugar refineries and ship building yards. The lace manufacture is the most important. From the 7th century Bruges was rapidly acquiring importance. During the government of the rich and BRUGG powerful Counts of Flanders, who resided there from the 9th to the 15th centuries, its woolen manufactures grew and flourished to an amazing extent.
Under the Austrian dynasty, at the close of the 15th century, the rebellious conduct of the inhabitants of Bruges called duct of the inhabitants of Bruges called upon it such destructive vengeance that henceforth its greatness died away, its trade was transferred to Antwerp, and the religious persecution and ferocity of the Spanish ish under Philip II. and the Duke of Alva completed the process of its ruin. Early in 1904, a new canal was inaugurated, extending ex from Zeebrugge, a port on the North Sea, 14.29 miles N. of Ostend, to the city, a distance of 7.49 miles. Pop. about 54,000. In the World War (1914-1918) the Germans occupied Bruges in the fall of 1914 and held it to the close of the conflict. With Zeebrugge it became a submarine base for attacks on British channel shipping. In the bomon British channel shipping. In the bom- 1915 many famous buildings were damaged or destroyed. These included the aged or destroyed. These included the belfry, and the ancient Hospital of St.
John, erected in the 12th century.