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Brugge's cathedral, from 1562 up to 1799 when it was destroyed by the French, was St. Donat's in the centre of town directly across from the town hall. In 1834 Sint Salvators was designated the cathedral giving rise to the need for the building to assert its new status.
It was noted that its tower was lower than that of the nearby Our Lady Church and, in restoration work following a fire in 1839, the opportunity was taken to raise the height of the tower. The result did not please everyone as it was done in Romanesque style and material that didn't quite match the immediate base.
This helpful model, inside the church, shows clearly the section that had been added.
I suppose I should start inside with the main altar. Note the sheer height and the windows high up which flood the interior with light and really expose this church's fabulous features. A photographer's gift.
We'll get the bishop's throne out of the way and go straight to my favourite feature of this impressive church.
Isn't this organ really something. Forget about the high altar and the various Flemish masters.This says it all with style and music. If I was at a service here I'd be turned the wrong way, soaking this up in vision and heavenly vibrations.
And look at God, for Christ's sake. This is the real fella that we knew and feared growing up. None of your namby pamby compassion here. Just the coming of the power and retribution.
But it's not all gloomy stuff. I really got a lift out of spotting this angel on top, conducting the choir from the score of the day. These guys not only knew what they were doing, they clearly had a great sense of humour. Beautiful.
Now, to get back to the sombre, but no less impressive bit in its own way, the bishops' reliquary. This is directly behind the main altar.
I don't know how many bishops are buried here but from the crests above there might be only two of them. Or maybe these were just the first two occupants.
Let's pass under the crests and go in. There is clearly a restriction on horizontal space at this level, it being between the back of the high altar and the back of the church. But there seems to be no restriction at all on vertical space. Heaven's the limit.
This is just one of the subsidiary aisles, but look at the space and height. This could be a whole church in its own right.
And speaking of vastness just look at this. No, it's not a holy water font, it's for baptisms and even Texas could be proud of this one.
I've thrown my cap in the ring, just to give you an idea of the scale of it. John the Baptist would have had no trouble doing a dunking job here.
This is the pulpit, just for the sake of completeness. I don't know what style it is but it has been remarked to be out of kilter with most of the rest of the church.
This is the reliquary in silver of St. Eloi (Elegius d.660), patron of gold and silversmiths, by Jan Crabbe (1457-1488).
And the man himself, St. Eloy
My favourite intellectual, Jean de Carondelet, died 1544 aged 80, but kept on thinking and reading ever after.
A detail from the shrine of Charles the Good, Count of Flanders 1084-1127, beatified 1884, shrine from 1883-5. Charles was assassinated in St. Donat's church in the main square. That church became the city cathedral in 1562 and, as explained above, the role of cathedral fell to Sint Salvators in 1834.
Not forgetting the laity. There is no shortage of memorials to lay persons of power in these churches and you have to remember as well that the church in the old days wielded significant temporal power. So, all in all, the great glory of these monumental buildings is to temporal as much as to spiritual power.
This window really caught my eye. I assume because of its brightness and the sheer power of the single scene at the centre of it.
I haven't a clue what it is about but assume it must bear some relationship to Saint Salvator. According to itself it appears to date from 1552, or maybe it commemorates an event from that year. The amount of imagery in it on closer inspection is staggering. Just taking all of it together it looks like it may be to a female martyr who is in some way patron of the city or a guild. There's a PhD lurking in there somewhere.
It says it was restored in 1903. I don't know if it had remained smoke-damaged since the fire in 1839 and, if so, why it had not been restored in the major restoration following the fire. You can see that I am accumulating a raft of questions to be put if I ever get back to Brugge - an unlikely event I fear.
Anyway, I'll leave the window for now with this vibrant image of an unknown martyr (from the bottom left quadrant).
This one looks like the local worthies putting in an appearance at the crucifixion, much as, in the Irish case, those claiming to have been in the GPO in 1916 would fill the building many times over. Or maybe the example of the storming of the Bastille, though in this case we know there was at least one Cavanagh present.
Something that was very popular in my day, petitions and thanks for favours granted. The Blessed (now Saint) Martin Magazine (Dominicans) and the Sacred Heart Messenger (Jesuits) used to be full of them. [Update: I checked in my local supermarket the other day and found Saint Martin still in business.]
These particular ones seem to have been left by tourists (from Mexico).
There is also what appears to be a more formal version across the way.
I think I should wrap up my visit here. You could spend half a lifetime in this church exploring and researching its history and artefacts. If you do get to pay a visit, leave plenty of time to really look at stuff.
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