Bruges, after five years the "Palace of Wonders" reopens: the Gruuthuse Museum open again

It has taken five years of work, but as of tomorrow, May 25, 2019, the Gruuthuse Museum in Bruges, Flanders, will be open again.The result is a journey through seven centuries of the city’s history, from the Burgundian era to the neo-Gothic reinvention of Bruges in the 19th century, inside one of the most impressive buildings in the Flemish city’s medieval old town. A wing of the “Palace of Wonders” has been opened (and new rooms can be visited as a result) that owes its appearance to Lodewijk van Gruuthuse, a 15th-century businessman, diplomat, knight, and fine patron of the arts. Gruuthuse also named the palace after his family, which at the time held a monopoly on gruut, a spice mixture used to impart flavor to beer. By extension,the headquarters and later the household itself became known as “Gruuthuse” (“the house of Gruut”). Following the introduction of hops and thus the decline of gruut, the mansion became a stately home and then, with the family’s extinction, was used first as the city’s pawnshop and later as a museum.

The new tour is under the banner of Lodewijk van Gruuthuse’s motto, “Plus est en vous,” or “there is more in you,” indicating that each of the exhibits has something to tell about the history of Bruges. A visit to the museum is thus also a journey into the history of Bruges: the sumptuous atrium with its 19th-century carved wooden ceiling and the Seven Liberal Arts tapestry, a masterpiece of the museum’s textile collection, welcome the visitor. One proceeds to the different rooms that follow one another revealing the amalgamation of several buildings over time. From the tower with the belvedere to the spiral staircase to the 15th-century chapel, careful restoration has focused on all rooms in the building. The architecture of the building is in itself a valuable source and tells much about the undisputed star of the museum, Bruges, and the era that coincided with the heyday of so many Flemish cities and the very definition of the “Flemish way of life,” that of the Dukes of Burgundy. The multifaceted collection on display participates in the same purpose, including majestic tapestries and Gothic stained glass, imposing wooden sculptures and fine lace, paintings and Chinese porcelain.

Finally, it should be noted that the restoration of the Gruuthuse is part of plans to upgrade the entire museum system in Bruges. In the ticket office located inside the new pavilion erected between the museum and the adjacent Church of Our Lady, tickets can be purchased for all museums in the city’s Municipal Museums circuit (Musea Brugge). Among others are the Groeninge Museum and the Sint-Janshospitaal-Memling Museum, stops on a unique journey to discover the city’s history. For all information you can visit www.museabrugge.be.

Pictured is the Gruuthuse Museum

Bruges, after five years the "Palace of Wonders" reopens: the Gruuthuse Museum open again

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