GRAND ENTRANCE to GRUUTHUSE

Tour of Europe 04 2016

 

Day 13

 

Presumably in the 13th century, a rich family from Bruges received the monopoly to levy taxes on gruit. Great (alternately grut or gruyt) is an old-fashioned herb mixture used for bittering and flavouring beer, popular before the extensive use of hops.

They built a storage for it. The building was changed in the early fifteenth century by Jan IV van der Aa to a luxury house for his family, which subsequently changes its name to "Van Gruuthuse" ("From the Gruit house"). His son Louis de Gruuthuse adds a second wing to the house, and in 1472 a chapel. This connects the house to the adjacent Church of Our Lady, Bruges.[1]

 

In 1596, the house is bought by king Philip II of Spain and in 1623 given to Wenceslas Cobergher to house the Bruges mount of piety. The city of Bruges bought the house in 1875, and architect Louis Delacenserie completely restored it between 1883 and 1895. The exterior is partly original, partly a reconstruction; the interior is mostly a late 19th century Neogothical reconstruction of a medieval interior.

Currently, it is closed for major restoration work.

The reopening is planned early 2018.

 

I wish you a day full of beauty and thank you for your visit, Magda, (*_*)

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