Basilica of the Holy Blood

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Basic information
Location

Bruges, Belgium
511229.4N

Geographic coordinates

31336.2E51.208167N

3.226722ECoordinates:

511229.4N

31336.2E51.208167N 3.226722E

Affiliation
Ecclesiastical

Roman Catholic
or

organizational status

Minor basilica

Leadership

Canon Libert Bruneel[1]

Website

Official Website

Architectural description
Architectural type

Church

Architectural style

Romanesque, Gothic

Direction of faade

NE

Basilica of the Holy Blood

Groundbreaking

1134[2]

Heilig-Bloedbasiliek (Dutch)

Completed

1157[2]

Basilique du Saint-Sang (French)

The Basilica of the Holy Blood (Dutch: Heilig-Bloedbasiliek,

French: Basilique du Saint-Sang) is a Roman Catholic minor
basilica in Bruges, Belgium. Originally built in the 12th
century as the chapel of the residence of the Count of Flanders,
the church houses a venerated relic of the Holy Blood allegedly
collected by Joseph of Arimathea and brought from the Holy
Land by Thierry of Alsace, Count of Flanders. Built between
1134 and 1157, it was promoted to minor basilica in 1923.
The 12th-century basilica is located in the Burg square and
consists of a lower and upper chapel. The lower chapel
dedicated to St. Basil the Great is a dark Romanesque structure
that remains virtually unchanged. The venerated relic is in the
upper chapel, which was rebuilt in the Gothic style during the
16th century and renovated multiple times during the 19th
century in Gothic Revival style.

Contents

1 History

2 St Basil chapel

3 Chapel of the Holy Blood

4 Relic of the Precious Blood

5 Procession of the Holy Blood

6 Jeu du Saint Sang

7 Trivia

8 Gallery

9 See also

10 Notes

11 References

12 External links

History
In 2020, Thierry of Alsace decided to build a private double
chapel next to the Oud Steen, the first residence of the Counts
of Flanders, transformed today into the town hall of Bruges.
Thierry went on crusade a second time in 1147 during the
Second Crusade. According to the tradition, Thierry of Alsace
returned to his capital Bruges on April 7, 1150, with the relic of
the Precious Blood. During the first half of the 13th century,
the name of the upper chapel was changed to the Chapel of the
Holy Blood.[2]

St Basil chapel

Romanesque St Basil chapel

The chapel of Saint Basil is one of the best preserved churches
in Romanesque style of West-Flanders.[2] Built from 1134 to
1149, the chapel is dedicated to St. Basil the Great of whom a
relic was brought back by Count Robert II from Caesarea
Mazaca in Cappadocia, Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey).
The chapel consists of two side naves and a central nave
continued by the choir, which in turn is ended by a semicircular apse. In the tympanum above the entrance linking the
chapel and the annex is a 12th-century representation of the
baptism of Saint Basil. In the right nave, the seated Madonna
and Child (Sedes Sapientiae) is a wooden polychrome
sculpture of the early 14th century. Carried each year during
the procession, two venerated wooden statues, made around
1900 and representing Jesus on the Cold Stone and the Pieta
are displayed.
At the left of the choir, the chapel of Saint Yves was added in
1504 and houses the relics of Saint Basil and of Blessed
Charles the Good, Count of Flanders. The black marble retable
is allegedly executed from designs by Lancelot Blondeel.[citation
needed]

Chapel of the Holy Blood

Originally built in Romanesque style like the St Basil chapel,
the upper chapel was transformed in Gothic Style at the end of
the 15th century and again in 1823. Only the curved arches
giving access to the side chapel of the Holy Cross remain from
the original Romanesque chapel.

The monumental staircase, commonly named De Steegheere,

which leads to the upper chapel, was built in from 1529 to
1533 in late Gothic and Renaissance style according to the
drawings of Flemish painter and architect Lancelot Blondeel,[2]
[3]
ornamented on the outside with sculpted statues. The
aftermath of the French Revolution left the staircase badly
damaged and it was decided in 1832 to move it 4 metres (13 ft)
backwards and to rebuild it after removing the remaining ruins
of the Oud Steen.[2][4] The gilded bronze statues represent
Archduchess Isabelle of Burgundy, Mary of Burgundy, Thierry
of Alsace and Philip of Alsace and, in the medallions, the
Archdukes of Austria Albert VII and Maximilian III, Margaret
of York and Sibylla of Anjou, wife of Thierry and daughter of
King Fulk of Jerusalem.
During the 19th century, successive renovation campaigns gave
to the chapel its final Gothic Revival aspect, with its
characteristic mural decorations. The stained-glass windows in
the choir date from 1845[5] and represent the sovereigns who
reigned over the County of Flanders from Philip the Bold, duke
of Burgundy, till Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria, Holy
Roman empress.
The following architects and artists took part in these neoGothic renovations of the Chapel of the Holy Blood:[2]

Main altar of the Basilica of the Holy Blood.

Jean-Baptiste Bethune

Louis Delacenserie

Thomas Harper King

William Curtis Brangwyn, father of Frank Brangwyn

Charles De Wulf, architect of the city of Bruges and

winner of the Prix de Rome in 1887[6]

The pulpit in the form of a globe dates was made in 1728 by

Henry Pulinckx, inspired by its evangelical purpose : "Go into
all the world and preach the gospel" Mark 16:15.
The large wall-painting behind the high altar was realized in
1905. In the upper part, the Mystery of the Cross depicts Christ
shedding his blood, with, in the background, the towns of
Bethlehem, where Christ was born, and Jerusalem where he
died. The lower part depicts the transport of the relic from
Jerusalem to Bruges: on the left, Thierry of Alsace receives the
relic from Baldwin III of Jerusalem, King of Jerusalem ; on the
right, kneeling besides Countess Sibylla of Anjou, he hands
over the relic to the chaplain.
The high altar used today for the Eucharist is decorated with a
relief in alabaster from the beginning of the 17th century
depicting the Last Supper. Typical attributes of a basilica, the
tintinnabulum, the small processional bell, and the
Umbraculum, the sunscreen in the form of a parasol in yellow
and red silk, are displayed next to the high altar.
Laurent Delvaux completed in 1751 the white marble altar in
Baroque style for the relic side chapel. The two adoring angels
were made by Peter Pepers. The relic is kept in a magnificent
silver tabernacle made by local silversmith Franois Ryelandt
(17091774), representing the "Lamb of Christ". To the right of
the altar, the painting of Jacob van Oost depicts the descent
from the Cross. The relic is shown to the public every Friday
and every day two weeks before Ascension Day.

Relic of the Precious Blood

Middle Age in Europe. If genuine, a relic of the Blood of Jesus

would be of utmost significance, a uniquely important witness
to Jesus Passion and a perpetual reminder of the historical
character of the Christian Gospel.[8]
Popular legend asserts that the phial was taken to Bruges
during the Second Crusade of CE 11471149, by Thierry of
Alsace, who returned from Jerusalem with the relic of the Holy
Blood presented to him by his brother-in-law Baldwin III of
Jerusalem, as the reward of his great services.[7] However,
recent research found no evidences of the presence of the relic
in Bruges before the 1250s.[8] In all likelihood, the relic
originated from the 1204 sack of Constantinople by the army of
the Count of Flanders, Baldwin IX during the Fourth Crusade.[8]
Ever since, the phial has played no small part in the religious
life of the city.[9] Pope Clement V issued a papal bull in 1310
granting indulgences to pilgrims who visited the chapel to view
the relic.

Relic of the Holy Blood, Bruges.

The basilica is best known as the repository of a venerated
phial said to contain a cloth with blood of Jesus Christ, brought
to the city by Thierry of Alsace after the 12th century Second
Crusade.[7][8]
Although the Bible never mentions Christ's blood being
preserved, one of the apocryphal gospels asserts that Joseph of
Arimathea preserved the Precious Blood after he had washed
the dead body of Christ. The daily making present of the Blood
of Christ during the Mass was central in the religious life of the

Recent investigations have showed that the phial, made of rock

crystal and dating back to the 11th or 12th century, [7] was a
Byzantine perfume bottle made in the area of Constantinople. It
was never opened since its arrival in Bruges. Its neck is wound
with gold thread and its stopper is sealed with red wax. The
phial is encased in a glass-fronted gold cylinder closed at each
end by coronets decorated with angels. The date
"MCCCLXXXVIII die III maii" (May 3, 1388) is engraved on
the frame.[7]

Procession of the Holy Blood

goldsmith Jan Crabbe from some 30 kilograms (66 lb) of gold

and silver and more than 100 precious stones. It consists of a
gem-encrusted hexagonal case topped by golden statues
representing Jesus-Christ, The Virgin Mary, St. Donatian and
St. Basil the Great.

Main article: Procession of the Holy Blood

The Procession of the Holy Blood seems to have emerged as a
civic ceremony by the late thirteenth century.[10] Instituted in
1303, the ceremonial procession commemorates the
deliverance of the city, by the national heroes Jan Breydel and
Pieter de Coninck, from French tyranny in May of the previous
year and which takes place on Ascension Day, as one of the
great religious celebrations in Belgium. Residents of the area
perform an historical reenactment of the phial's arrival together
with similar dramatizations of Biblical events. The passion
play, the Jeu du Saint Sang takes place every five years.[11]
The reliquary used during the procession is displayed in the
Basilica Museum. The shrine was made in 1617 in Bruges by

Jeu du Saint Sang

Jeu du Saint Sang is a Belgian passion play, performed in
Bruges.[12] It was first published in 1938, and translated into
French by mile Schwartz.[13]

Trivia
In the 2008 movie In Bruges,[14] Brendan Gleeson as Ken pays a
visit to the relic of the Holy Blood. However, the privately
owned Church of Jerusalem (Dutch: Jerusalemkerk)built in
the 15th century according to the plans of the Holy Sepulcher
in Jerusalemwas used instead of the Basilica.

Gallery
Detail of the entrance of the Basilica

Detail of the staircase leading to Basilica of the Holy

Blood

Stained glass windows in the staircase

Side altar where Relic of the Precious Blood is

presented to the worshippers.

Relic of the Holy Blood, carried during the Procession

of the Holy Blood

Basilica of the Holy Blood staircase

BRUGES

The

Chapel

of

the

Holy

Blood

The chapel of the Holy Blood is actually a double chapel

which can be visited on the 'Burg' square in Bruges. It
was first constructed in the 12th century and promoted to
the rank of Basilica in 1923. One can enter the church
on the first floor where the Holy Blood is kept via the
'Steeghere' which is a beautifully decorated faade
behind which a staircase leads to the first floor. The
original faade was constructed in late-gothic and
renaissance style in the 16th century. It was demolished
in the aftermath of the French Revolution and later
rebuild and slightly moved. The guild statues represent
Flemish counts.The lower part is called the Basilius
chapel. It has preserved its original Romanesque style
from the 12th-13th century. On the left side of the choir is
the former chapel of the clerks of the civil registry (1503)
and on the right side one can see a statue of the Virgin
from around 1300. The passage between the main nave
and
the
sidechapel
is
decorated
with

a tympanum, which is
a sculptured stone in half-relief, probably
representing the baptism of St. Basilius.
The church on the first floor is the actual chapel of the
Holy Blood. The church itself was originally built in
Romanesque style like the Basilius church on the ground
floor. It was changed completely in gothic style in the
15th century and again in 1823. The mural decorations in
the present church are from this second renovation in the
19th century. The original stained-glass windows have
been removed after the French Revolution. Some of
the original ones ended up in the Victoria and Albert
museum in London. The copies which can be seen in the
church today also date from the 19th century renovation.
The silver altar is the place where the relic is preserved
during the week. The relic is shown to the public every
Friday and every day from the 3rd to the 17th of May.
Outside the chapel is the Holy Blood museum, which
contains the shrine for the Holy Blood and other
treasures belonging to the chapel.

THE RELIC OF THE HOLY BLOOD

(According to recent investigations, the bottle of rock
cristal, containing the blood, dates back to the 11th or
12th century. Since its arrival in Bruges it has never
been opened. It is almost certain that the bottle was
made in the area of Constantinopel (now Istanbul in
Turkey) and that it was meant to contain perfume. The
Bible never mentioned the fact that Christ's blood was
preserved. One of the apocryphal gospels mentions that
Joseph of Arimathea preserved the blood after he had
washed the dead body of Jesus)Tradition has it that
count 'Diederik van den Elzas' brought the relic
containing the blood of Christ from Jerusalem to Bruges
after the second crusade. Recent investigations,
however, prove that the relic arrived later in Bruges,

probably
around 1250
and
that
it
came
from
Constantinopel
(now: Istanbul
in Turkey). The
adoration of the
relic is at the
origin of the
internationally famous 'Procession of the Holy Blood'
which passes every year on Asuncion day during the
month of May through the streets of Bruges. Citizens of
Bruges dressed in historical costumes enact during this
procession biblical scenes and re-enact the arrival of the
Count of Flanders who brings the Holy relic to Bruges.