Belgium is an extremely interesting country for the tourist who is looking not only for new experiences, but also for knowledge. Belgium is rich in sights, picturesque landscapes and whole streets, built with unique architectural structures.
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Address: Dijver 12, 8000 Brugge Phone: +32(0) 50 44 87 11 Opening hours: Tuesday – Sunday from 9:30 to 17:00, Monday off |
One of these structures is the Groeningemuseum, which is not only interesting on the outside, but also on the inside. Among the most interesting art museums in Belgium, the Gruninge Museum can rightly be considered the best, because it contains unique works of art. The museum itself is located at the southern end of the Great Square, on Dijver Street in Bruges.
History of the museum
The Gruninge Museum gets its unusual name from the neighborhood in which it is located. Part of the city, which has the same name Gruninge, was first mentioned in the thirteenth century. The area received this name because of its picturesque views, or rather because there were many trees and various greenery.
The museum itself was built here in just one year between 1929 and 1930. Back then, the Gruninge Museum occupied an area that belonged to an ancient abbey. Initially, the museum building was erected only for the purpose of collecting several disparate works of art, which were planned to be centralized into a single collection to make a city gallery with appropriate storage conditions.
The first inhabitants of this museum were the famous and valuable works of Flemish masters, who worked in the genre of primitivism. The collection was gradually built up and now the Gruninge Museum holds very valuable specimens.
The centralized collection in the museum began as early as the eighteenth century. Around 1898, the collection had to be divided into two unequal parts.
Thus, the first part of the collection became the main core of the Museum of Modern Art, which is located in the building of the once popular and now former Jesuit School.
The second part, which chronologically included works before the eighteenth century, has been in storage at the Central Academy of Art for some time. They were looking for the right time for it, but in the meantime it was simply and frankly gathering dust.
Overall, it is the second part that can be considered the most valuable, as it includes true masterpieces from the 15th-16th centuries.
The Gruninge Collection
Today, the Grueninge Museum can be rightly proud of its collection of paintings by Flemish masters.
Even two works by Jan van Eyck, considered the earliest representative of Flemish Primitivism, can be seen among the collector’s pieces. These paintings reflect the portrait of the master’s wife and the “Madonna of Canon van der Pale”.
Other masters whose paintings have found their rightful and honorable place here include Hugo van der Goes, Hans Memling, Gerard David and Rogier van der Weyden.
The museum staff is very careful in keeping the second section, which contains several Renaissance and Baroque works by Bosch, Blondel, Porbus and Provost.
