Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent, Belgium

The Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, Belgium holds a large permanent collection of art from the Middle Ages until the mid-20th century. The collection focuses on Flemish Art (masterpieces from Hieronymus Bosch, Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck) but also has several European - especially French - paintings. It also has a large amount of sculptures. The building was designed by city architect Charles van Rysselberghe around 1900.

References:

Wikipedia

Museums in Belgium

User Reviews

Andrea D Goncalves (17 months ago)
Very good museum for Belgian art from middle ages up to some modern art

Peter Dowdall (18 months ago)
Reasonably good survey of pre-modern art, largely Belgian, but no real showstoppers.

Ouermi Judicael (18 months ago)
Very nice. Good reprensation of local famous artist. Not a big fun of the audio guide.

Mery Gregorius (2 years ago)
Really great art museum. They have cool exhibitions too, but the the museum is worth visiting on itself. It's a lot bigger that you would think so make sure to have a few free hours you can spend there.

Gloria Kalita (2 years ago)
Loved this museum! Didn't have enough time to see it all! I'm in a wheelchair, so this was my only chance to see the Altarpiece, as it's being restored. Very interesting displays to see how its being done. (Wheelchair accessability is not available in the Abbey where the Altarpiece will eventually end up) The rest of the works are well organized and rooms have ample areas for sitting to observe & rest, too. The earphone guides are great, too. Attendants always were helpful to answer questions. We plan to return to see what we missed by our first time restraints. I highly recommend.

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Church of the Savior on Blood

The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood is one of the main sights of St. Petersburg. The church was built on the site where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated and was dedicated in his memory. Construction began in 1883 under Alexander III, as a memorial to his father, Alexander II. Work progressed slowly and was finally completed during the reign of Nicholas II in 1907. Funding was provided by the Imperial family with the support of many private donors.

Architecturally, the Cathedral differs from St. Petersburg's other structures. The city's architecture is predominantly Baroque and Neoclassical, but the Savior on Blood harks back to medieval Russian architecture in the spirit of romantic nationalism. It intentionally resembles the 17th-century Yaroslavl churches and the celebrated St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow.

The Church contains over 7500 square metres of mosaics — according to its restorers, more than any other church in the world. The interior was designed by some of the most celebrated Russian artists of the day — including Viktor Vasnetsov, Mikhail Nesterov and Mikhail Vrubel — but the church's chief architect, Alfred Alexandrovich Parland, was relatively little-known (born in St. Petersburg in 1842 in a Baltic-German Lutheran family). Perhaps not surprisingly, the Church's construction ran well over budget, having been estimated at 3.6 million roubles but ending up costing over 4.6 million. The walls and ceilings inside the Church are completely covered in intricately detailed mosaics — the main pictures being biblical scenes or figures — but with very fine patterned borders setting off each picture.

In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, the church was ransacked and looted, badly damaging its interior. The Soviet government closed the church in the early 1930s. During the Second World War when many people were starving due to the Siege of Leningrad by Nazi German military forces, the church was used as a temporary morgue for those who died in combat and from starvation and illness. The church suffered significant damage. After the war, it was used as a warehouse for vegetables, leading to the sardonic name of Saviour on Potatoes.

In July 1970, management of the Church passed to Saint Isaac's Cathedral (then used as a highly profitable museum) and proceeds from the Cathedral were funneled back into restoring the Church. It was reopened in August 1997, after 27 years of restoration, but has not been reconsecrated and does not function as a full-time place of worship; it is a Museum of Mosaics. Even before the Revolution it never functioned as a public place of worship; having been dedicated exclusively to the memory of the assassinated tsar, the only services were panikhidas (memorial services). The Church is now one of the main tourist attractions in St. Petersburg.

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