Jan van Eyckplein Part 2. Het Tolhuis.

Jan van Eyckplein c 1900.

Looking towards the Spiegelrei.

Opposite the Poortersloge, on Academiestraat, stands the historic Tolhuis, in Jan van Eyckplein.. Originally part of a larger merchant’s house, built in the 1200s, it does, in fact, comprise several parts: the corner house, Het Heilig Graf; Het Pijnderhuisje, the actual Tolhuis and Het Wezelkin.

The Tolhuis itself is the part fronted by the natural stone gable. The original merchant’s house was situated, for obvious commercial advantage, in a developing trading centre in the growing port. Ships entered Brugge via the Langerei and the Spiegelrei so, for traders, it offered the ideal spot for building homes with ample storage facilities. The office of the Tol, the Grote Tol, was housed there from the beginning of the fourteenth century. This toll booth was where an import tax, the Grote Tol, was collected on all goods arriving in Bruges from the region or from international sources. There was also a Kleine Tol, levied at the city gates, on local trade. The amount to pay for the Grote Tol was calculated by weight and thus a toll house always included a weigh house.

Jan van Luxemburg, c 1400.

Napoleon in Brugge.

The first mention of the Tolhuis in surviving accounts, is between 1302 and 1305. It would be then that the original merchant’s house was drastically adapted to suit its new purpose. Het Grote Tol was a royal tax often awarded to a private person, generally highborn like an aristocrat or a prince, as a significant concession for services rendered to the king. Records show that the concession passed, through marriage, to the Van Luxemburg family soon after 1400. In 1549, Charles V permitted the holders of that concession to sell it to the city of Brugge and from then the building was referred to as the Office of the Master of Het Tolhuis. In the modernisation and changes during the Napoleonic occupation between 1794 and 1814 the Grote Tol was abolished and customs duty instituted, with the Tolhuis subsequently occupied by the family of the recipient of those customs duties. The weighing house downstairs remained publicly owned for some time though the main building itself was privately owned. During the nineteenth century the Tolhuis was still known popularly as the Balance de Bruges or the Poids Publique.

Original drawing by architect 

Louis Delacenserie.

In 1876, the City authorities bought back the building to house the Bruges Library and the City architect, Louis
Delacenserie restored the facade and reconstructed the building housing the staircase. In 1889 the ground floor was converted to a fire station. A century later in 1995, the Provincial authorities bought the entire complex, protected as a monument since 1962. Following another thorough restoration and re-design, a number of services were housed there from 2001: the Provincial Library and Archives; the Provincial Information Centre and a Europe Information Point.

Corona Update

Absolutely nothing to report!! Belgium seems to be dealing well with the crisis and lock-down continues, gilded, it must be said, by increasingly warm sun. My walk from 8.30 this morning was the very Heaven. Almost deserted everywhere, I was surrounded with picture-perfect reflections in canals touched early by

Seagulls practising social distancing.

Madonna and Child,

near Beguinage,

one of hundreds in Brugge.

the sunlight; mediaeval buildings standing proud but chiefly unnoticed, certainly by me until this lock-down provided me with the opportunity and perspicacity to notice the gables, the windows, the pale pink bricks and niches filled with statues to Our Lady. This enforced alone-ness is actually bringing me huge favours of time and opportunity to see, really see, the stunning beauties of Brugge.