Saint Salvator's Cathedral

Step through the doors and the noise of Steenstraat fades almost at once. The air inside is cool, and it smells faintly of wax and old stone. Your footsteps sound louder here than they did outside. Overhead, pale columns rise into Gothic vaults, and the light comes in soft and grey through tall windows. Out on the street, Bruges is shopping and chatting. In here, the city slows down.

You are standing in Saint Salvator's Cathedral, the oldest parish church in Bruges. The name means Holy Saviour, and in Dutch the locals call it Sint-Salvatorskathedraal. Many visitors walk past it on their way between the Markt and the Zand square. They often assume the cathedral is the famous Church of Our Lady, a few streets away. It is not. Saint Salvator's has its own long story.

Here is the first surprise. For most of its life, this building was not a cathedral at all. It was a busy parish church. Bruges had a cathedral, but it was a different one: Saint Donatian's, which stood on the Burg square. During the French occupation at the end of the eighteenth century, Saint Donatian's was sold and torn down. When the diocese of Bruges was restored in 1834, Saint Salvator's took on the role of cathedral.

So the cathedral you see today is the result of a loss. Saint Donatian is still remembered here, and he shares the dedication with the Holy Saviour. Some of the furnishings and art from the old cathedral and from other churches found a new home inside these walls. In a way, this building carries the memory of a church that no longer exists.

Look at the walls around you. Like much of medieval Bruges, the cathedral is built largely of brick. This region had little good building stone, but it had plenty of clay. The style is often called Brick Gothic, a version of Gothic architecture shaped by this humble material. The main body of the church grew in stages through the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and the chapels around the choir were added later.

Now think back to the tower you saw from the street. It is one of the tallest landmarks on the Bruges skyline. The lower part is very old and heavy, in the Romanesque style, an earlier medieval style known for thick walls and round arches. The upper part is much younger. After a fire damaged the church in the nineteenth century, the tower was raised and given its distinctive crown, designed to echo that older Romanesque look.

That is the second surprise. Many people assume the whole tower is medieval. In fact, the top you see is a nineteenth-century addition, built in a deliberately old-fashioned style. The builders of that era loved the Middle Ages, and they often finished old churches in ways the original builders never did. Next time you look up from the street, you will be looking at two very different centuries stacked on top of each other.

Walk towards the front of the nave and look up at the rood screen, the tall partition between the nave and the choir. Above it sits the organ, in a richly carved Baroque case. Baroque is the dramatic, ornate style of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. On the screen you will also see a large Baroque statue of God the Father. It is a strong contrast with the plain Gothic columns, and it shows how each age added its own taste to the church.

Now move into the choir if it is open. The wooden choir stalls are carved in fine detail. Above them hang painted coats of arms. These belong to the Knights of the Order of the Golden Fleece, an exclusive order of chivalry founded by the Dukes of Burgundy. In 1478, the order held one of its formal gatherings, called a chapter, right here in this church. The shields still mark the seats of those noblemen.

This is a reminder of how important Bruges once was. In the fifteenth century, the city was a rich centre of trade and a favourite home of the Burgundian court. Merchants from across Europe lived and worked in these streets. The most powerful men of the age sat in this choir. Today the shields are quiet and faded, but they connect this space to a time when Bruges was at the heart of Europe.

On the walls of the choir, look for the large tapestries. They were woven in Brussels in the eighteenth century, when the city was known for its tapestry workshops. Up close, you can see how the colours have softened with time. Woven pictures like these were once a sign of great wealth. They also helped to make a cold stone space feel warmer and more welcoming.

The cathedral also keeps a treasury, usually in rooms off the side of the church. It holds Flemish panel paintings, silverwork and church vestments collected over the centuries. Among the paintings is a well-known triptych, a three-panel altarpiece, showing the martyrdom of Saint Hippolytus, linked to the painter Dieric Bouts. Look out too for painted medieval tombs found during excavations. Their insides were decorated with simple crosses and figures, meant only for the dead.

Before you leave, stand still for a moment near the back of the nave. Look down the long line of columns towards the choir. Notice the mix around you: medieval brick, Baroque carving, nineteenth-century repairs, and modern lighting. Listen to the soft echo of other visitors. When you step back out into Steenstraat, turn and look up at the tower once more. You now know its old base and its newer crown, and the city around it will feel a little different.