This small museum is open daily from 10am-noon, and 1.45-5pm, and admission is €2 (£1.40).FIVE FOR FOOD AND DRINKRed! (Vlamingstraat 53; 00 32 50 61 40 06; ) is spearheading a change in this part of Bruges. Visitors can stroll through the grounds, open daily from 6.30am-6.30pm, and visit the church and one of the houses. This walled area is one of only a few such begijnhofs remaining in Belgium, and is a grassy, tree-filled courtyard surrounded by white houses and a church. Admission costs €8 (£5.70).At any time of year Bruges is bustling with tourists, but it is still possible to find peace in the Begijnhof - helped, no doubt, by the rule of silence that has been imposed by the Benedictine nuns who now live here.
Beguines were religious women, usually widows or spinsters, who didn't want to take holy orders, but who lived a life committed to the church, observing the vows of poverty and fidelity. His portraits are displayed in the chapel of the medieval hospital. It is fascinating to see an 18th-century painting of patients being treated in the ward, located in the same building which now houses the museum. Admission to the two is €8 (£5.70).Unmissable among the city's ancient buildings is St John's Hospital at Mariastraat 38, which contains the Memling Museum, a small but exquisite collection of works by one of Bruges' most famous artists. Adjoining The Groeninge, and accessible on the same ticket, is the Arentshuis Museum, whose first floor is devoted to the works of Frank Brangwyn, a 19th-century Welsh artist born in Bruges. The Groeninge, at Dijver 12-16 (00 32 50 44 87 43; ), houses the city's main fine arts museum, an important collection of Flemish art, from the middle ages to Magritte; and this summer the Memling exhibition, that will form the centrepiece of the Corpus 05 festival, will be held here (see panel, right).
This is paraded from the church through the city streets every year on Ascension Day (5 May this year), starting at 3pm. The whole procession takes three hours.Nearby are Bruges' two main museums. On a throne, carefully guarded by a priest, are a few drops of blood, allegedly washed from the body of Christ by Joseph of Arimathea. This costs €15 (£10.70) and covers entrance to any three of the 14 museums in Bruges.The ensemble in the Burg is completed by the Basilica of the Holy Blood. The City Hall, and all the other main museums in the city (00 32 50 44 87 43; ) mentioned here open 9.30am-5pm daily except Monday, and are covered by the Museums Pass.