Heritage in Brugge/Bruges

March 21 and 22 of the Spring break saw 15 students and three teachers of the level-3 interdisciplinary Heritage course on the second course visit to Brugge, Belgium.  

Thursday afternoon began at the Historium where we underwent virtual arrival in the crows nest of a ship buffeting its way across the high seas into the busy mediaeval port of Brugge; we saw the enormous crane worked by a treadmill, and entered the former Waterhalle site on which Historium is built. This virtual journey culminated by flying over the Market Square to "land" in the Groeninger Museum in front of Jan van Eyck's 1436 'Madonna and Child with Canon Joris van der Paele' masterpiece. After this virtual introduction we came back to earth with a student-led city walk into the physical realities of secluded hofjes, the Brugge town brewery, and the brand new Concert Hall.  

High point of Friday was our visit to the St. Johns Hospitaalmuseum (aka Memling Museum), with its 11th century floor and layers of history as the place where pilgrims were received and cared for in medieval times; and for which the artist Hans Memling created his St. John's altarpiece by 1479). We met heritage experts, saw state-of-the-art museology (the De Mena, Murillo, Zubaran. Masters of the Spanish Baroque, curated by our host, Ruud Priem, and designed by Studio OTW, with the creation of an ingenious light box effect by Theatermachine). In the afternoon we visited the nooks and crannies of the ancient attics of the Hospitaalmuseum, which offer views of the city as well as stories of former residents. 

The Brugge excursion enriches the course with its fantastic medley of medieval urban space, Flemish Primitive paintings, neo-Gothic architecture, virtual reality, and heritage professionals who give us pertinent insight into the contemporary dilemmas, challenges, and creative solutions of managing such a place. We continue to make reference to the Brugge material as we discuss intangible and digital heritage in the second part of the course, and discuss the implications of current events such as the fire at Notre Dame.