Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk, Flanders, Belgium

5DunelmArts 5:00 PM Jun 29, 2022

Spectacular building and art
The Church is free to enter when there are no services taking place, and the interior is well worth a visit. The best art and the famous Michelangelo sculpture of Madonna and Child are in the roped off museum part of the church which costs seven Euro to enter. Payment is by card only, no cash is accepted. The white marble statue is worth the admission price alone - truly stunning. For film buffs, the statue featured in the film The Monuments Men, the story of how great art works were saved from the Nazis during WW2. The outside of the church is equally spectacular. The brick tower is 115.5 metres high and took nearly 200 years to build! The church is certainly well worth a visit during your trip to Bruges.

4Oxalis Tours 5:00 PM Dec 29, 2021

Impressive, medieval church. Museum worth the visit.
Built between around 1270 and 1340 so in the Middle Ages, when life expectancy was thirtysomething, the printing press had yet to be invented and the Americas were still waiting to be discovered. This church would have been an architectural marvel in its time, a medieval equivalent maybe of The Shard in London or New York's Chrysler Building. And even today it remains an imposing structure. Gothic, constructed for the most part in brick. The main tower is 115 metres tall. The building's interior is as impressive as its exterior and really worth having a look at. The church also includes a museum (admission 7€) whose highlights include the tombs of Charles the Bold and his daughter Mary of Burgundy, the last members of the powerful Burgundy dynasty, an exquisite marble Madonna and Child by Michelangelo and a silver cask containing relics believed to be of Saint Boniface. The cask etchings, which represent scenes from Saint Boniface's life, are particularly intricate and very beautiful. It was however a bit disconcerting to see rather gaudy, artificial flowers next to a statue by Michelangelo.