Jan van Eyck Square

Jan van Eyckplein is a square in the center of Bruges. The square, located at the beginning of the Spiegelrei, was built shortly after 1787, when the so-called New Year's or Sint-Jansbrug was demolished and a first part of the Kraanrei was vaulted.

In the Middle Ages this was the Manhattan of Burgundian Bruges. A bustling port where passionate traders from all over Europe gathered and you heard every language imaginable. A tangle of loaders and unloaders crowded around the Tolhuis and the Rijkepijndershuis, Bruges citizens and merchants looked on approvingly from the Poortersloge. Today this square is stately dominated by the world-famous master painter Jan van Eyck and from here you set course for quiet, tranquil working-class neighborhoods.

Source: Visitbruges

Jan van Eyck was already very famous in his time and his paintings were ordered from all over Europe. Van Eyck worked as a diplomat, court painter and decorator for Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. The painter had a studio here in Bruges in the 15th century. In the Historium Story you can discover how things went in his studio.