Groeningemuseum, Bruges, Belgium - SpottingHistory.com

The Groeningemuseum is built on the site of the medieval Eekhout Abbey. It houses a comprehensive survey of six centuries of Flemish and Belgian painting, from Jan van Eyck to Marcel Broodthaers. The museum's many highlights include its collection of 'Flemish Primitive' art, works by a wide range of Renaissance and Baroque masters, as well as a selection of paintings from the 18th and 19th century neo-classical and realist periods, milestones of Belgian symbolism and modernism, masterpieces of Flemish expressionism and many items from the city's collection of post-war modern art.

References:

Wikipedia

Museums in Belgium

User Reviews

Bill Edwards (2 years ago)
All on one level so accessible for wheelchairs. Compact so can be done in a couple of hours. A good spread from medieval to modern. Great to see Hieronymus Bosch's work in the flesh.

Alejandro Garcia Lemos (2 years ago)
This a great size and temático museum. Mostly focus on Flemish primitive and Jan Van Dick. There are some painting that will leave you speechless. Only recomendad for those who enjoy attention to the detail to the level of obsession. It’s also a great building! Enjoy it!

Fabio Diglio (2 years ago)
During Bruges’ Golden Age, the 15th century, the fine arts prevailed and the great Flemish Primitives made a name for themselves. The world-renowned works of Jan Van Eyck and other prominent Flemish Masters can be admired at the Groeningemuseum, the main museum in Bruges. For art lovers.

Paul Beckman (3 years ago)
This is a small, extremely manageable, well-though-out museum with some great works by Flemish masters from early through modern periods. Reasonably priced entry. Maybe a bit too small and missing some of the highlights that you might expect from the public description, but absolutely worth a visit.

Melchior Spruit (3 years ago)
Totally loved the great art that goes back many ages. Especially touching is the spiritualism gallery. The paintings are diverse and never boring. Go discover this wonderful museum, because this is slow food for the soul.

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Lednice Castle

The first historical record of Lednice locality dates from 1222. At that time there stood a Gothic fort with courtyard, which was lent by Czech King Václav I to Austrian nobleman Sigfried Sirotek in 1249.

At the end of the 13th century the Liechtensteins, originally from Styria, became holders of all of Lednice and of nearby Mikulov. They gradually acquired land on both sides of the Moravian-Austrian border. Members of the family most often found fame in military service, during the Renaissance they expanded their estates through economic activity. From the middle of the 15th century members of the family occupied the highest offices in the land. However, the family’s position in Moravia really changed under the brothers Karel, Maximilian, and Gundakar of Liechtenstein. Through marriage Karel and Maximilian acquired the great wealth of the old Moravian dynasty of the Černohorskýs of Boskovice. At that time the brothers, like their father and grandfather, were Lutheran, but they soon converted to Catholicism, thus preparing the ground for their rise in politics. Particularly Karel, who served at the court of Emperor Rudolf II, became hetman of Moravia in 1608, and was later raised to princely status by King Matyas II and awarded the Duchy of Opava.

During the revolt of the Czech nobility he stood on the side of the Habsburgs, and took part in the Battle of White Mountain. After the uprising was defeated in 1620 he systematically acquired property confiscated from some of the rebels, and the Liechtensteins became the wealthiest family in Moravia, rising in status above the Žerotíns. Their enormous land holdings brought them great profits, and eventually allowed them to carry out their grandious building projects here in Lednice.

In the 16th century it was probably Hartmann II of Liechtenstein who had the old medieval water castle torn down and replaced with a Renaissance chateau. At the end of the 17th century the chateau was torn down and a Baroque palace was built, with an extensive formal garden, and a massive riding hall designed by Johann Bernard Fischer von Erlach that still stands in almost unaltered form.

In the mid-18th century the chateau was again renovated, and in 1815 its front tracts that had been part of the Baroque chateau were removed.

The chateau as it looks today dates from 1846-1858, when Prince Alois II decided that Vienna was not suitable for entertaining in the summer, and had Lednice rebuilt into a summer palace in the spirit of English Gothic. The hall on the ground floor would serve to entertain the European aristocracy at sumptuous banquets, and was furnished with carved wood ceilings, wooden panelling, and select furniture, surpassing anything of its kind in Europe.

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