FRANC DE BRUGES (BRUGSE VRIJE)
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In Bruges Renaissance style palace, with a facade decorated with rich golden stucco and red windows.
This Renaissance-style palace (1534-1537) is a must-see, next to the Town Hall. Its façade is adorned with rich gilded stuccowork and its red windows contrast with the natural white stone. But it's the seven 19th-century bronze statues of legal figures that really catch the eye. The Franc de Bruges, created around the year 1000, administered the military, financial and agricultural affairs of Bruges and the surrounding villages. Headed by a military chief (the burgrave), the Franc de Bruges was then managed by a bailli (the equivalent of a prefect today) from the 12th century onwards. In the 15th century, it moved to the Château des Comtes. From 1795 to 1984, the building became Bruges' courthouse.
Visit. Inside, you'll find Bruges' Franc de Bruges museum (combined ticket with the town hall), as well as the municipal archives guaranteeing the town's administrative memory, whose reading room has been set up in the chapel of the former Greffe civil, one of the city's most important administrations. Visit the Salle d'assise (both meeting and exhibition room) and the Renaissance Room, featuring a monumental 1528 fireplace built in wood, marble and alabaster in honor of Charles V, as well as life-size statues of Charles V, Maximilian of Austria and Mary of Burgundy, his grandparents, and Charles the Bold and Margaret of York, his great-grandparents.
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