Bruges: Venice of the North

Frozen in Stone, Preserved by Nature

Bruges arose in the 9th century as a coastal settlement fortified by Count Baldwin I of Flanders to repel Viking raids. Situated with direct access to the sea via the Zwin channel, Bruges quickly grew into the preeminent commercial capital of Northern Europe. By the 13th century, merchant fleets from Genoa, Venice, and the Hanseatic League crowded its harbor, buying wool, cloth, and spices.

In the late 15th century, disaster struck: the Zwin channel began to silt up, cutting off the city from large ocean-bound merchant ships. The wealthy banking houses packed up and moved to Antwerp, causing Bruges to slip into deep economic stagnation. For nearly four hundred years, the city lay forgotten, preventing the demolition of its historic core. It was rediscovered in the late 19th century as one of Europe's first tourism capitals, celebrated for its Gothic brick gables, canals, and stone bridges.