Basiliek van het Heilig Bloed

( Basilica of the Holy Blood )

Description

The Basilica of the Holy Blood (Dutch: Heilig-Bloedbasiliek) is a Roman Catholic basilica in Bruges, Belgium. The church houses a relic of the Holy Blood collected by Joseph of Arimathea and brought from the Holy Land by Thierry of Alsace, Count of Flanders. Built between 1134 and 1157 as the chapel of the Count of Flanders, it was promoted to a minor basilica in 1923.

The basilica in Burg square consists of a lower and upper chapel. The lower chapel, dedicated to St. Basil the Great, is a dark Romanesque structure that remains virtually unchanged. The venerated Passion relic is in the upper chapel, which was rebuilt in the Gothic style in the 16th century and renovated in the 19th century in Gothic Revival style.