45447
Smedenpoort (Blacksmith’s Gate) in the Ezelstraat Quarter in northern Bruges, Flanders, Belgium.
The original gateway dates from 1297-1299 and the current gate was built on the remains of the old one in 1367. Throughout the centuries the gate has undergone many changes and restorations.
The sculptured bronze skull above the left passage is a replica of the skull of executed traitorous statesman François Vander Straeten as a warning to the people. In 1691, hostile French troops had gathered near Bruges but could not infiltrate the city’s ramparts. They conspired with Belgian statesman François van der Straeten to enter the city through the Smedenpoort.
The plot was discovered and relayed to the city council, Straeten was arrested and hanged. His head was dipped in bronze and then hung from an iron pin on the gate as exemplum justitiae.
The skull disappeared during the French Revolution and was rediscovered in 1876. The remnants of the original skull are housed in the Archaeological Museum in Bruges, and a bronze replica now hangs on the Smedenpoort.
Information Source:
www.atlasobscura.com/places/smedenpoort-skull
www.visitbruges.be/en/smedenpoort-blacksmiths-gate
45447
Smedenpoort (Blacksmith’s Gate) in the Ezelstraat Quarter in northern Bruges, Flanders, Belgium.
The original gateway dates from 1297-1299 and the current gate was built on the remains of the old one in 1367. Throughout the centuries the gate has undergone many changes and restorations.
The sculptured bronze skull above the left passage is a replica of the skull of executed traitorous statesman François Vander Straeten as a warning to the people. In 1691, hostile French troops had gathered near Bruges but could not infiltrate the city’s ramparts. They conspired with Belgian statesman François van der Straeten to enter the city through the Smedenpoort.
The plot was discovered and relayed to the city council, Straeten was arrested and hanged. His head was dipped in bronze and then hung from an iron pin on the gate as exemplum justitiae.
The skull disappeared during the French Revolution and was rediscovered in 1876. The remnants of the original skull are housed in the Archaeological Museum in Bruges, and a bronze replica now hangs on the Smedenpoort.
Information Source:
www.atlasobscura.com/places/smedenpoort-skull
www.visitbruges.be/en/smedenpoort-blacksmiths-gate