This archived website 'Flemish primitives' is temporarily not being updated. Certain functionality (e.g. specific searches in the collection) may no longer be available. News updates about the Flemish primitives will appear on vlaamsekunstcollectie.be. Questions about this website? Please contact us at info@vlaamsekunstcollectie.be.
In the 12th Century, Count Diederick van de Elzas (1128-1168) had a double chapel erected in the Burg in Bruges. Inside, he installed the Saint Basil Chapel, above which came the Basilica of the Holy Blood. The Saint Basil Chapel is the only Romanesque church building in West Flanders that has been as good as fully preserved.
Beginning in 1889, a museum was built in Neo-Bruges style after the design of architect Louis Delacenserie (1838-1909). The collection of the Holy Blood grew organically and is especially varied and consists of paintings, sculptures, manuscripts, precious jewelry, glass windows and lacework. There are early pieces (15th, 16th and 17th Centuries), but the centuries following as well as the 19th-century Gothic Revival are also represented in the collection.
Discover the highlights from the collection of the Museum of the Basilica of the Holy Blood in a new online publication by Dominique Marechal (Curator at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels).
(News item October 10 2014)