D.ay 5 – Brussels holiday.
Some shots of the Basilica of the Holy Blood which I think is very impressive. It was dark in there except for one small side chapel which had a reliquary of the Holy Blood for people to walk along and give homage to The Blood of Christ in this reliquary (see top right picture). The Basilica is in the form of a small chapel and has a lower chapel (middle of lower pictures). We did follow the little queue to see, say a short prayer and throw a kiss to the reliquary.
We took this trip to Ghent and Bruges especially on this day which was the eve of the feast of The Holy Blood and my guess was that there would be festivities on the day of the feast at the Market Square where a lot of activity was going on and which I showed yesterday .
The Basilica-church of The Holy Blood houses a relic allegedly 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. It was rebuilt in the Gothic style in the 16th century and renovated in the 19th century in Gothic Revival style.
The lower chapel, dedicated to St. Basil the Great, is a dark Romanesque structure that remains virtually unchanged.
Thank you very much for looks and for your comments on yesterday's picture.
It must have been truly magical to see this in person! Such wonderful shots in your beautiful collage. So much history in these walls, thanks for the info.
@sangwann I live on (this is) a peninsula. The sea, and water, is never far away. But in summer it's too busy for me there. (and very expensive) and I rarely get there.
Ian