Saint-Walburga church
Baroque church of brick with a sandstone facade, its unfinished design a legacy of a Jesuit funding dispute.
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About this audio guide
This guide to Saint-Walburga church in Bruges starts with an odd detail in the stonework: sandstone only where the eye would notice, plain brick everywhere else. It follows architect Pieter Huyssens, born into a family of masons and the Jesuit order's star designer, and the funding dispute between the Jesuit houses of Bruges and Antwerp that stalled his plan after his death in 1637. You'll hear how a fellow Jesuit finished the church more cheaply a few years later, working from a compromised version of the original design. Step inside to see what the building's tight budget didn't reach.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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