Plus est en vous

 The controversial modern ticket office of
the newly-reopened Gruuthuse Museum

Five years after its closure for architectural renovation and a virtually new museum installation, the wonderful Gruuthuse Museum has recently re-opened. It is now a first class facility, architecturally perhaps the most aesthetically pleasing building in this little city of stunning mediaeval structures.

 Gruuthuse Museum

 Part of the Bidkapel, the only true
original feature remaining.

Originally built in 1425 and later expanded by the enormously wealthy Lodewijk van Gruuthuse, a high-ranking official of the Burgundian court. His personal motto, Plus est en vous ... there is more in you, often displayed decoratively on roof beams, serves as an inspiration and theme for the new museum. Adapted to the museum, the idea is that there are layers of meaning and significance in the exhibits for the visitor to discover. . So the exhibits are beautiful to see but also have historical art importance and suggest additional meanings for the people of Brugge who made the objects, those who owned the objects and, no doubt, the lowlier denizens who cleaned and moved the objects. As the visitor moves through the museum, he is following a clear narrative of Brugge through the centuries.

The building has intricate stonework, decorative roof gables and a belvedere tower. There is one surviving feature of the original palace; the first floor chapel [now restored to its original state], the bidkapel. It has windows which allowed the Gruuthuse family to worship privately while looking directly into the adjacent church of Onze Lieve Vrouw; their servants, meanwhile, could pray in the rather more austere service chapel below. The family and its retinue were thus spared the indignity of having to mix with lesser aristocrats and the common herd at prayer. The privilege and power of the mediaeval Gruuthuse family is thus eloquently illustrated still.

 Lodewijk van Gruuthuse wearing the
Order of the Golden Fleece.

One important element of the family’s wealth came from its monopoly of gruut, a mixture of flowers and herbs added in the preparation of beer. This was granted in 1200 allowing a tax to be levied on the sale of gruut to brewers. Eventually, this also included the facility to levy taxes on the sale of all brewed beer, a source of huge wealth to the Gruuthuse family over the centuries.

Lodewijk van Gruuthuse himself, was an accomplished diplomat in the service, first, of Philip the Good [1391-1467]. In 1468 he presided over the preparations for the illustrious marriage of Duke Charles to Margaret of York. He hosted Edward 1V of England when the king fled the Wars of the Roses and was granted, in gratitude, the hereditary title of Earl of Winchelsea, a rare honour for a non-Englishman, As owner of an extensive library he commissioned many prestigious works and was a friend and patron of Colard Mansion, godfather to whose son he became. Lodewijk was an international figure and a powerful man in his own society; his power was based not only on wealth but on achievement, culture, influence and character. His eminence and persona convey to the contemporary mind, the enormous power and success of mediaeval Brugge itself of which he was an eminently worthy representative.

 Edward 1V of England

On a personal note, I was sad to hear that there is no disabled access to the museum though great efforts have been made to accommodate the hard of hearing and the visually challenged. It was not until I had actually visited the entire museum that I could see the almost impossibility of circumventing the dozens and dozens of steps and stairs without perhaps, adding an elongated extension solely to accommodate disabled access. I hear that without disabled access, in the U.S.A and the U.K. no finance could have been granted to begin renovation for renewal or re-opening. Interesting.

 Small, beautiful detail from the Bidkapel

 The Belvedere with its commanding views.