Bruges totally deserved to be crowned as 'European Capital of Culture' in 2002. This year-long cultural event was the highpoint of a centuries long and very rich cultural history. Bruges is widely known to be one of the most picturesque cities in Northern Europe, and therefore was put on the list of the World Heritage Site of UNESCO.
Almost a thousand years ago Brugge got its city charter. The name derives from the Old Norse word Bryggja, which means 'port' or 'landing stage' and may even have the same origin as Bryggen in Norway. The city knew a very rapid expansion throughout the 13th, 14th and 15th century, before cities like Antwerp took over the regional Hegemony, due to the sanding of the Swin. For decades, Bruges played a centre role in the Flemish cloth fairs circuit and its influence reached out to as far as England and Scotland. The opening of the Bourse in 1309 placed Bruges on the map: it rapidly became the most sophisticated mony market in the Low Countries. By the 15th century, when the city's power reached its peak, about 40.000 people lived inside the city walls. After a couple hundred years of downfall, a new source of income, namely tourism, gave the city new hope for a prosperous future: from the late 1800s on, Bruges became extremely famous as a majour tourist destination. Year after year, it keeps attracting tourists worldwide.
At the early 13th century, Bruges was an important part of the Flemish cloth fairs circuit and the city’s entrepreneurship reached out to as far as England and Scotland and their wool-producing districts. The Bourse's opening in 1309 made Bruges one of the most sophisticated mony markets of the Low Countries. By the 1400s, the population rose to nearly 40.000 people. By the late 19th century Bruges became one of the first tourist destinations attracting mainly British and French tourists. International tourism grew steadily eversince.
Today about 120.000 people live in Bruges, 20.000 of them still live in the historic city centre. It's stunning how friendly the people in Bruges are and how many of them impress tourists every time with their charm and enthousiasm to show their city’s sights. You can almost sense their pride of having the privilige to be living in Bruges.
