Unique: Medieval bell foundry excavated in Bruges

Archaeologists stumbled upon a very special find last week: the remains of a bell foundry right next to the Saint Anne’s Church in Bruges.

“We are here in a quieter part of Bruges and we are particularly delighted”, says alderman for culture Nico Blontrock. “For the very first time, it’s the first for our archaeologists to excavate an old bell foundry.”

“Valuable find”

During street works, they first collided with hundreds of skulls, bones and teeth. It is of course also a cemetery near the church. But these fuel residues are really a valuable find that can learn a lot about the ancient art of the bell foundry.

“We usually find a craft more in a factory building. But bells were very delicate and heavy. So it was done here in a temporary studio right next to the church,” says Frederik Roelens, city archaeologist in Bruges.

Friday exceptionally open

How did the medieval inhabitants of Bruges make clocks and is there still a clock from that time in the Sint-Annakerk? They now need to investigate further. Tomorrow Friday the well will be open for one more day.

“The exceptional thing is that we have never found this in the center of Bruges before.”

Similar traces of a bell foundry have also been unearthed in Veurne and Wervik. But then the archaeological picture was not nearly as clear as it is here.