New Britain herald., 1928-05-26
BRUGES IS CITY OF GREAT CHARM
All Beauty of Old World Is
 Found There

Washington, D. C.. May os.- "Rruges, Belgium, which has just closed its annual religious festival, retains its picturesque qualities all though It has yielded much of it's commerce of q few centuries ago to Antwerp" says d bulletin from the Washington, D. C., headquarters of the National Geographic society.
 Tn the fourteenth and fifteenth wealthiest and busiest cities in Eu- rope.
 Commercial District Deserted
 Canals which were once crowded with shipping now arc clogged with silt, moss and lilly pads. and in some parts white swans fearlessly swim about. Bordering quays are bare and silent. Many Of the gabled dwellings and warehouses facing the quays, long the meeting places of boistcrous sea rovers, are unoccupied. During it's busiest era. Bruges boasted headquarters or merchants from 17 countries. Fabrics were , shipped from Italy and the East, furs from Russia and Bulgaria, metals from Poland and Hungary. Wool. cheese and coal from the ! British Isles, fruits from Granada and Egypt, and Ara bian spices and | Ehenish wine were marketed there. The tapestry manufactures of Bruges were world famous. In 1A3o Duke Philip the Good founded the Order of the Golden Fleece, one of the most exclusive knightly orders. in tribute to the wool weavers of Flanders.
 Once SpanUcd With Gariands
 By the end Of the fifteenth cen. | tury the rivers and canals silted up, trade routes changed, and the mer- chants forsook Bruges for Antwerp, leaving a city of Old World charm i for travellers to enjoy. In the door, . ways of medieval houses old women sit for hours in their picturesque costumes. making lace. They look as though they had stepped out Of canvas of Jan Van Eyck or Hans Memlinc, famous Bruges artists. Some ot the brick facades ot the medieval homes arc hung with large iron rings, which. in the days when Bruges wak famed for it's fetcs, were used to hang ropes O. flowers rom wall to wall.
 Tn the streets, huge thick legged /, Flemish draft horses draw to market -f,l yy-n ], aI rfe F;lIaI |, green vegetables from nearby farms. And now and then one sees a dog-drawn milk cart, painted green. rumbling over the clean , cobbles.
 City Occupies Island Grand Place. the city square. is the busiest place in Bruges on Sat urdays when the market is ready for ! business shortly after dawn. City and rural costumes run the gamut of color and style. with broad flowing skirts and small lace caps dominat- ing. Although vegetables abound on the well ordered stands. there are also copper and brass vessels. old clothes, used furnitures and soiled books.
 The Belfry Tower, one of BruRes' ' famous landmarks, rises 315 feet over the square. During the hectic struggles Of the Flemish people with the Spaniards. the French. and ncighboring towns. the bells in the Belfry tower called the burShers to arms. In room near the top there are numerous rods. pulleys and ropes which are connected with one of the finest carilions in Europe. It has 47
 bells.
 Through small window in the shaft, Bruges resembles a veritabIe checkerboard Of red gables, pierced ; here and there by spires, towers and pinnacles. The narrow streets and canals wind in every direction and from this lofty perch the traveller sees Bfuges as an inland island, for
 it is completely surrounded by
 natural streams and n1an-n1ade canals. Bruges tBridges) was named by the Dutch for the many bridges spanning it's waterways.
 ''The cathedral and Notre Dame
 both medieval buildings are excellent examples Of pointed Gothic architec-
 ture. Both of them arc art galleries
 With many paintings and splendid exhibits of brass and copper vessels tcr.'