The Jerusalem Church - Bruges

The Jerusalem church has preserved its original style almost completely, which is quite rare in Belgium. Furthermore, the church is still privately owned. The church belonged to the Adornes family, a family of merchants who came from Genoa in Italy to the 13th century Bruges. Their descendants still own the Jerusalem church today.
During the 14th century one of the members of the Adornes family had a chapel built. This prayer house was later extended and even rebuilt. The church which resulted from these transformations was finished by 1470. It is believed that the design was copied from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, which some of the members of the family had visited. The interior consists of a nave and a higher choir. In the middle of the church is the tomb of the Anselm Adornes and his wife (Vander Banck). Anselm died in 1483. The decoration is still quite remarkable, divers and yet coherent. The beautiful stained glass windows date from 1482 and 1560. Behind the lower altar is a small space which suggests the tomb of Christ.
 

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