New Britain herald., 1923-06-26
BRUGES A BELGIAN
 CITY OF BRIDGES
Has Greatest Of Its Annual Cele'
 bratlOnS Which Is Prominent

BTnges, Belgium, has just had the
 greatest Of its annual celebrations, the
 procession of the most precious
 blood; which, now that the World
 war Is well past, has taken the prom.
 inent place in Belgian hearts that it
 held before the German occupation caused its temporary suspension, Of the city of this proeession-=one of the leading religious celebrations or
 Eurepe-a bulletin from the Wash ington, pr, C., headquarters of the National Geographic society saysi
 Name As Logical As
 "smith's Crossroads"
 ''if We are unfamiliar with the Ian. guage Of foreign country We are likely to accept the names Of it's cities as meaning nothing in particular or as having an esotefie significance which We ean hardly hope 10 fathom. But Bruges fools us, Its name has about as common an origin and is about as logically descriptive as There Rivers or smiths Crossroads Re. cause the town from the beginning had numerous canals and struetureI carrying streets across them it was named Gin Flemishl Bridges. II is a sort of reversed Venice. Whereas the latter Is an area of sea with islands scattered in it.. Bruges is n land area cut into islands by numerous canals. In both cities many houses rise sheer from tho water and boats are used for traffic.
 Like Venice again, Bruges was once the commercial and banking center Of the world. This was in tho fourteenth century. The center of commercial activity had moved from Italy to Flanders and Bruges was then Flanders greatest market. World trade came up the river Zwyn which then gave 1t q harbor: merchants from the four quarters of the world maintained headquarters in the city: and its bourse regulated the exchange rate for all Europe. Ghent was a strong rival, but until the zwyn final ly silted up in 1490 Bruges held It's own. At the height of its power Bruges had a population of 2o0,o00; now the inhabitants number about 55,- | 0o0
 Had Notorious U-Boat Nest
 Not to be cheated of a port by destructive forces. the peo- pie of Bruges have built several can 1ls to the North Sea The largest and most direct lead sight miles to Zee brugg (meaning the seaport of RrugesD. This port and it's canal and Inc basin at Bruges figured promin- sntly in the World war. The Ger mans developed q strong t-boat nest # Bruges from which their under water commerce destroyers went out Q sink many an Allied ship and to which they returned for repairs and A tremendously strong shelter with concrete roof six feet thick, built over the water. stands near the BEudges end of the sea can Il today, a monument to German T-boat activities. Allied bombing planes were unable to find the exact ocation of this camoufaged nest, and would have been able to in- lict but little damage on it's roof ven if direct hits had been scored. The British, however successfully irdered the U-boat activities from he Bruges nest by their famous sortie gainst the Zeebrugge mole when old hips filled with concrete were sunk x cross the entrance channel to the anal.
 Most Medieval Flemish City
 "Bruges is one of the ouaintest of he old, Flemish cities and is said to reserve in it's architecture more ledieval aspect than ony of its sister Prominent archtec- lral features are the church of otre Dame and the Cathedral of St. auveur, both excellent examples of arly pointed Gothic: and the market R all with its dominant belfrey hous- g AS bells, one of the most famous ,llections of chimes in Europe. E Tn St. Basile's chapel is kept the ss tered Vial, brought by crusading nights from Jerusalem, reputed to i've been the vessel holding the ater with which Joseph of Arima- ca bathed the bloodstained body of 1rst. This reliquary Is carried once oh year in the procession of the N' ost Precious Blood "Bruges has long been noted for
 wooden cloths. In recognition of e city's jreeminence in this field in 30 Philip the Good Of Burgundy med the order which he then ns eated, the Order of the Golden ct eeee.' This has ever since been h, e of the most exclusive knightly or =. rs.' co
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