Saint Walburga Church - Bruges

Attached there is another interesting video about the bells of the church. The Sint-Walburgakerk is a baroque church on the Sint-Maartensplein in Bruges. The former Jesuit church has been the church of St. Walburga Parish since 1778. There was a count's chapel on the corner of today's Riddersstraat and the north side of Sint-Walburgastraat. According to legend, this chapel was founded by Saint Walburga in 745, while she was on her way, together with Saint Boniface, from Wessex to Thuringia. In 1239 the Saint Walbuga parish was founded and the chapel was elevated to a parish church . A church tower was built. In the fifteenth century, the chapel was considerably expanded into a three-aisled church. The tower that was planned later, after the model of the Carolus Borromeus Church in Antwerp, was never finished, due to a lack of money .

Guido Gezelle lived from 1865 to 1872 in the Korte Riddersstraat and along the Verversdijk. In those years he was curate of the Sint-Walburga parish. Inside, the white marble communion rail dates from 1695. This communion rail was praised by Valentin Vermeersch as the most beautiful in the ecclesiastical heritage of Bruges. It spans the entire width of the church (24 m) and has ten medallions depicting symbols of the Eucharist and saints of the Jesuit order. The oak pulpit from 1667-1670 is the work of Artus Quellinus the Younger. It is generally regarded as the most beautiful of Bruges pulpits. From the 1960s, the church was also used as a concert hall, including for the Flanders Festival of Early Music.

Willem Vandenameele