Off the beaten path in Bruges

Although today, Vloethemveld is a 350-hectare nature reserve a stone's throw from Bruges, it was once home to a Belgian army ammunition depot and the nature area also hides other military secrets.

A skull and crossbones adorn the mossy grave of Antoine Michel Wemaer, a merchant buried here in 1837.

A century after the construction of the Waggelwater Bridge, a railway bridge over the Bruges-Ostend canal, a new railway bridge was commissioned in 2009, and trains no longer crossed the monumental Waggelwater Bridge.

The Belgian city of Bruges developed into an economic powerhouse from the 11th century onwards, thanks to its Medieval Flemish cloth industry and its international port.

In the early 20th century, between the railway line Ghent-Bruges and the Ghent-Ostend canal, 'La Brugeoise & Nivelles' rose from the ground, a famous railway equipment manufacturer.

The former Delhaize brush factory is one of Bruges' most striking and best-preserved industrial heritage sites.

Two and a half centuries ago, on 13 February 1787, the first burial took place in Bruges' Central Cemetery on the outskirts of the city.