Church of Our Lady, Bruges

The Church of Our Lady is Bruges’s tallest building, its brick tower climbing 115.5 metres over the canals. Inside, past a free nave, is a small museum of treasures: Michelangelo’s Madonna and Child, the first sculpture of his to leave Italy in his lifetime, and the gilded tombs of Mary of Burgundy and her father, Charles the Bold.

A church of the Burgundian city

A chapel probably stood here by the 9th century, and a parish church by 1089. The present building was begun in the 13th century: a nave of grey Tournai stone, then a French Gothic choir from about 1270 and the great brick tower, built from the late 13th to the 14th century and given its spire in 1440. Musea Brugge calls it the second-highest brick tower in the world.

In the 15th century Bruges was one of the richest cities in Europe, and its nobles and merchants filled the church. The lords of Gruuthuse built a private oratory looking into the choir from their palace next door, in about 1472, and in 1468 the Order of the Golden Fleece held a chapter here; thirty knights’ coats of arms hang above the choir stalls in memory of it. The spire was rebuilt in the 1850s and the west front in 1906–08.

The visitor’s cheat sheet

What to see

Michelangelo’s Madonna and Child

Carved in white marble in 1503–05, the Madonna sits in a black marble altar in the south aisle. The Christ Child, unusually, is not held in her lap but steps down from it, as if about to walk into the world, while she looks past him. Merchants of the Mouscron family brought it from Italy and gave it to the church in 1514. It is part of the paid museum, and there is a touch station for blind and partially sighted visitors.

The tombs of Mary of Burgundy and Charles the Bold

In the choir are the tombs of the last of the Valois dukes of Burgundy. Charles the Bold was killed at Nancy in 1477; his daughter Mary died after a riding accident in 1482, aged 25. Her tomb, with its gilded bronze effigy, was finished in about 1502; his was added in 1563 to match it. Beneath them, excavations uncovered medieval burial vaults painted with angels, saints and crosses, some of which you can see.

The paintings and the choir

Over the high altar is a Passion triptych by Bernard van Orley, finished by Marcus Gerards, and around the choir and chapels hang works by Pieter Pourbus, Adriaen Isenbrant and Anthony van Dyck. Look up on the north side of the choir for the carved wooden front of the Gruuthuse oratory.

The nave

The nave is free and open to all. It has a flamboyant Rococo pulpit of 1743 and 17th-century statues of the apostles on the pillars.

Getting there

The church is on Mariastraat, in the south of the old centre beside the Gruuthusemuseum and Sint-Janshospitaal. From Brugge station it is about 15 minutes on foot; buses from the station to the centre run every few minutes and stop by the church. Drivers should use the big car park at the station, where the ticket includes a bus into town. Trains from Brussels take about an hour, and from Ghent about 25 minutes.

Tickets are sold at the reception pavilion between the church and the Gruuthusemuseum. There are no toilets on site.

Don’t miss

• The Madonna and Child The only statue by Michelangelo in Flanders.
• The Burgundian tombs Gilded bronze, in the choir.
• The painted graves Medieval burial vaults under the choir.
• The tower from the Dijver The classic view across the canal.

Insider tips

More churches nearby

• Antwerp Cathedral — three Rubens altarpieces under a 123-metre spire.
• Amiens Cathedral — the largest Gothic cathedral in France.

See all the Belgian churches in this guide →