BRUGES (Flemish Brugge, a name signifying the bridge or place of bridges) is situated on low-lying ground in the north east of the Belgian province of West Flanders of which it is the capital. Pop. (192 5) 52,894. It is about 6m. from the coast to which it is connected at Zeebrugge and Blankenberghe by a series of canals. Bruges is said to have been a city in the 7th century, and the name Flanders was originally applied to it and not to the district. Baldwin II., count of Flanders, fortified it and made it his chief residence. Before 118o Bruges was the recognized cap ital of Flanders and the new counts were proclaimed on the marche du vendredi, near the present railway station. After 118o the premier position was assumed by Ghent, but until access by sea was stopped by the silting up of the Zwyn, which was com plete by the year 149o, Bruges was the equal in wealth and power of its neighbour. Bruges was a member of the Hanseatic League and did a considerable trade in wool especially with England. In the 14th century it was the northern counterpart of Venice and its bourse regulated the rate of exchange in Europe. Bruges was again important during the 16th century when Spain's increasing trade with the New World demanded that she should have a market in "the main street" of European commerce. The cathe dral of St. Sauveur and the church of Notre-Dame, both speci mens of early Pointed Gothic, date from the 13th and 14th cen turies. The cathedral was much injured by fire in 1839. The church of Notre-Dame contains a fine De Crayer ("The Adora tion of the Magi"), and Michelangelo's marble group of the "Virgin and Child." The hospital of St. Jean contains the chief works of Memling, including the famous reliquary of St. Ursula. The market-hall was built in 1561-66 including portions of an older building. The belfry which rises in the centre of the facade dates from the end of the 13th century and has long been famous for its chime of bells.
The hotel de vale is Gothic and was begun about 1376. The Chapelle du Saint Sang has two storeys, the lower dating from I I50, while the upper was rebuilt in the 15th century, and there is a rich Flamboyant entrance with a stairway (1.533). St. Jacques' church is 13th century, but has extensive additions of the close of the 15th and 17th centuries. The Palais de Justice, of the 18th century, on the site of the House of the Franc, con tains a fine carved chimney-piece (1530). The house is supposed to have formed part of the residence of the counts of Flanders. The museum contains a representative gallery of early Flemish paintings.
Of the old fortifications three gates remain. The centuries following the struggle with Spain were times of trade depression for Bruges as well as for the rest of Belgium and Bruges lived on its past. At the end of the 19th century a great impetus was given to the trade of the city by the construction of new docks dommunicating with the sea by a canal 23ft. deep and by the general improvement of transport between the town and Zee brugge during the World War. Bruges was distant some 2om. behind the German front at Dixmude and with the growth of submarine warfare and the abandonment of Ostend as a naval base it became a centre for assembling parts of submarines. By the spring of 1918 the various docks and concrete shelters could accommodate 35 destroyers and about 3o submarines. Little material damage was done to the town, except to the canal docks where enormous numbers of bombs were dropped. The town was in German occupation for four years.
The manufacture of lace gives employment to a great many persons in the town, and horticulture is carried on extensively in the suburbs. Commercial activity has been assisted by the new ship-canal to Zeebrugge and by direct steamship service from Hull to Bruges. The exports are iron, macadam, coke and patent fuel, while nitrates, timber and coal are imported.