Mansion of the Bruges Vrije

The viscount resided in this country house of the Brugse Vrije.

The Brugse Vrije was the largest viscounty in the county of Flanders. It included the region around Bruges, bordered by the North Sea , the Western Scheldt and the Yser and was founded in the tenth century.

The building consists of 2 parts : on the right the richly decorated old civil registry from the sixteenth century and on the left the 18th century, classicistic old courthouse. In the aldermen's room is the monumental 16th-century Keizer-Karel fireplace, in oak, marble and alabaster, designed by Lanceloot Blondeel. Together with the paintings, wall coverings and ceiling, it functioned as a symbol of power of the Habsburg dynasty.

Willem Vandenameele