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Bruges - Brugse Vrije

City: Bruges is a town in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The history of Bruges as the capital of the County of Flanders goes back a long way. Famous people from Bruges were Philip the Good (Duke of Burgundy), Philip the fair (Duke of Burgundy, Count of Flanders; King of Spain); Charles the Good (Count of Flanders); Louis of Male (Count of Flanders); Marie of Burgundy (Duchess); Jan Breydel and Pieter de Coninck. Many famous painters were working here, painters such as Jan van Eyck and Hans Memling. Today, the city with its 117,073 inhabitants profiles itself as an historical city with affection for temporary culture, gastronomy and shopping.

Building: Brugse Vrije The building known as 'Brugse Vrije', on the left side of the city hall, is located at a spot called 'Burg', An alleyway separates the city hall and this building. Through the gate you can walk onto a little street with the funny name 'Blinde Ezelstraat' ('Blind donkey street'). The original building, a country house, was built between 1520-1533. The only remains of this building are at the rear. Between the years 1722-1727 the building was altered and received its current aspect in renaissance style. In the past the 'Brugse Vrije' was used as a court of law. Now the City Brugge uses it for city archives.

Object: Our interest is in the images on top of the house. The statues respresenting 'Justice'. Two characters are from the Bible: Moses and Aaron. Aaron was high priest in the nation of Israel. On the turban of the high priest was a shining plate of pure gold, engraved with: "Holiness belongs to JHWH" (Exodus 28:36) The text is not quite right. We see only a half Tetragrammaton. The other consonants are probably 'Alpha and Omega' (the first and last letter of the Greek alphabet - the Omega is placed upside down).The Bible book Revelation uses Alpha and Omega three times in relation to God. We show all seven images - the Tetragrammaton is located on the seventh statue of our band of images.

 

Band of images

Click on the photo

 

 

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