Bruges - Ten Wijngaerde

Bruges already had its city charter in 1128 and was a very important member of the Hanseatic League. It was the prospering center of the Flemish cloth industry.

Between 1200 and 1500 Bruges had a kind of "Golden Era". Bruges was a leading European business community.

In 1244 the béguinage 'de Wingarde' (= vineyard), was founded just south of the city by Margaret of Constantinople (aka "Margret the Black"), Countess of Flanders and daughter of Balduin I, the first emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople.

Beguines lived in semi-monastic communities but did not take religious vows. They promised not to marry "as long as they lived as Beguines" but were free to leave at any time. They were part of a spiritual movement of the 13th century that stressed imitation of Christ's life through voluntary poverty, care of the poor and sick, and religious devotion.

The béguinage includes a gothic church and about thirty small brick houses dating from the 16th, 17th and 18th century. Practically all of these are built around a central yard.

No Beguines live here any more, but since 1927 a priory of Benedictine nuns revitalizes the monastic life.

In 1998 this site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list together with 12 other Flemish béguinages.