Photo: Paul Hermans · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Sint-Salvatorskathedraal

Gothic cathedral of the Diocese of Bruges with a museum treasury full of medieval and later art, including works by Dirk Bouts and Hugo van der Goes.

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About the museum

The Church of Saint Salvator is regarded as the oldest church in Bruges. According to tradition, Saint Eligius had a chapel built here around 646; the lower part of the present tower dates from the twelfth century. Around 1275 construction began on the Gothic church, which was extended until the sixteenth century with, among other things, a choir ambulatory and radiating chapels.

After the Diocese of Bruges was re-established in 1834, the church was elevated to cathedral. The neo-Romanesque crowning of the tower was built between 1844 and 1871, and in the nineteenth century the interior received a neo-Gothic décor. Many works of art from demolished churches and monasteries, especially from the demolished Saint Donatian's Cathedral, found a home here.

The chapter house from 1916 was converted into a museum treasury in 2002. There the most precious works of the cathedral are displayed: paintings by, among others, Dirk Bouts, Hugo van der Goes and Pieter Pourbus, gravestones, sculpture, ivory carvings, manuscripts, textiles, furniture and metalwork. The cathedral was fully restored between 1987 and 2017.

Highlights

Museum treasury with around thirteen centuries of art history
Paintings by Dirk Bouts, Hugo van der Goes and Pieter Pourbus
Late Gothic choir stalls from around 1430
Late Baroque tapestries and neo-Gothic stained glass
Historic Van Eynde organ and large Klais organ with organ concerts