by Anne Harrison
We were highly delighted by our visit to the Hospital of St. John’s. It is a Gothic edifice of ancient structure. The sick lie in a large apartment, which is supported by Norman arches and pillars. The Sisters of Charity attend upon the invalids; and everything appears in that state of order and excessive neatness, so admirably conspicuous in this town.
-Charles A. Stothar, English antiquarian, in a letter to his mother 20th Sept 1890
I first saw Sint-Janshospitaal while cruising along the canals of Bruges. The wall running along the Groenerei (or Green Canal) is in classic Flemish style: ivy-covered stones, a roof stepping against the skyline. Tall gothic windows looked over the water. In medieval times this wing doubled as both a chapel and a ward (for since spiritual healing was considered more important than healing of the flesh, a chapel stood inside the open ward). The wash from our barge lapped against the weathered stones and landing stage, where a door opened onto the water.
Dating from the 12th century, Sint-Janshospitaal is Europe’s oldest preserved hospital, and remained in use until 1978. Behind these walls, the buildings now house a museum of medieval medical instruments, hospital artifacts, furniture and even original records. The earliest document relating to the hospital is dated 1188. It deals with the vows taken by the brothers and sisters working here, which differed to those taken by religious orders of the time. The sisters were in charge of the daily organization of the sick and of the kitchen; the brothers took responsibility for the hospital’s administration. In 1236, at the insistence of the Bishop Tournai, the lay brothers and sisters donned religious habits, and took vows of obedience, chastity and poverty.
Even the medieval apothecary and herb garden remain. One of the more unique items on display is an old ambulance, little more than a metal box with long wooden handles, in which the patient had to stand as he was carried by porters to the hospital. On the door is written St John’s, Bruges (in English, interestingly, not Flemish). The box looks more like a cage carrying a condemned man to the scaffold than an ambulance.
Hans Memling at Bruges! Have you never seen that dear old hospital of St. Jean on passing the gate of which you enter the fifteenth century?
– Roundabout Papers Thackeray (1811-1863)
There are also six masterpieces by the famous Vlaamse Primitieven (Flemish Primitive) Hans Memling (1430-1493). The wealth of Brugges attracted leading artists from over Europe, giving rise to the innovative style of the Primitives. Memling lived for a while at the hospital and also died here. It is said, after being wounded at the Battle of Nancy, the Hospitalliers of Sint-Janshospitaal treated his wounds and cured him.
Four of the works by Memling on display were painted specifically for the hospital, including the famous St. Ursula Shrine. Completed in 1480, this work is considered the masterpiece of the artist’s later years. Taking pride of place in the hospital chapel, the shrine is a carved reliquary cased in gold and shaped like a miniature wooden Gothic church. Within are the saint’s relics. The three painted tondoes on each side depict the medieval tale of the beautiful St Ursula and the 11,000 virgins who were massacred by the Huns in Germany while returning from a pilgrimage to Rome. The figures are remarkably delicate, the landscape and costumes full of detail, reflecting the artistic innovations of the time.
The oldest part of the hospital was built in the Mariastraat, near to the Mariapoort (or Mary’s Gate, one of the city gates in the first city walls). Importantly, the hospital stood just within the city walls, allowing it to provide housing and care not only for sick townsfolk, but also for pilgrims and travelers who often simply sought shelter and food rather than healing. (Opposite the hospital stands The Church of Our Lady, a 13th century chapel originally outside the city limits. Its brick tower is the highest of its kind in Europe. Inside is proudly displayed a Madonna and Child – the only statue by Michelangelo to leave Italy during his lifetime.)
The hospital continued to expand in the Middle Ages. In 1459, when under Bishop Chevrot the brothers and sisters of Sint-Janshospitaal took formal religious vows. This was largely for political reasons; by this time the hospital had become a powerful and rich institution. As a religious order, Sint-Janshospitaal was largely freed from the control of the city magistrate and Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. Around 1600 the hospital became an all-female institution.
Sint-Janshospital is one of the most beautiful medieval buildings in Bruges, if not Europe. For over 700 years it served not only as a hospital, but also as a charitable institution, caring for the needy as well as the ill, and giving spiritual guidance to the suffering and the dying. Although some of the original sheds have vanished – including a bakery and a brewery supplying the hospital and the original community – the atmosphere of a medieval hospital remain, a place not only utilitarian, but also aesthetically beautiful, designed to cure the body, the heart, the mind and the soul.
If You Go:
Bruges is easily reached by train, whether from Brussels airport or other major cities in Europe. A train from Paris, for example, takes around four hours and cost approx. €26.
For other ideas of what see in Bruges, visit the official website. This also gives suggestions for accommodation. (There are numerous websites for reviewing different types of accommodation.) I’d strongly recommend staying on a canal, with a window overlooking the water.
About the author:
Anne Harrison lives with her husband, two children and numerous pets in regional Australia. She discovered travel at the age of ten, then the world of history and philosophy. Her jobs include wife, mother, doctor, farmer, cheese-maker and local witch doctor, and her ambition is to be 80 and happy. Read more at anneharrison.com.au & hubpages.com/@anneharrison
First photo of Bruges Sint-Janshospitaal by Ludvig14 / CC BY-SA
All other photos Ⓒ A. Harrison
A side entrance to the hospital
Touring the canals
Sint-Janshospitaal
View from the canal
Michelangelo’s Madonna
Prepare to be amazed as the Wow Factor will captivate your senses the moment you enter the doors of this historic Gothic Cathedral. The black and white marble stripes on the walls and columns immediately captivate the eye. Black and white is seen throughout Siena and are the city’s symbolic colors.
Crime and Punishment Locations
I found Raskolnikov’s house, a big yellow apartment building, on the corner of Stolyarny Lane, 5, and Grazhdanskaya Street, 19. This rectangular structure with an inner yard has been built according to a typical architectural design of the 19th century: since the land was expensive, architects had to create the biggest possible house to occupy the lot. In 1970s, after remodeling, this “high, five-storied house” described by Dostoyevsky was turned into a four-storied one. [5] However, there is still the loft where Raskolnikov rented a room: “It was a tiny cupboard of a room about six paces in length … and it was so low-pitched that a man of more than average height … felt every moment that he would knock his head against the ceiling.” [6] The entrance to the house is locked to prevent tourists and literary journeys’ lovers, like myself, from disturbing the tenants.
As I walked around the house, I saw the commemorative high relief of Dostoyevsky and the plaque with the inscription: “Raskolnikov’s House. The tragic lives of people of this neighborhood of Petersburg served for Dostoyevsky as a foundation of his passionate sermon of goodness for the entire humanity.” [7] There is an interesting tradition in St. Petersburg: on the first Saturday of July (events described in Crime and Punishment happened in the beginning of July), Dostoyevsky’s enthusiasts gather in this neighborhood to celebrate Dostoyevsky Day. Many bring flowers to place at the bottom of this relief, but some put here … axes, because Raskolnikov used an axe as his murder weapon. (Another reason for tenants of this house to keep the entrance door locked!)
After having found the house of the murderer, I need to find the house of his victim, an old woman, a notorious pawnbroker Alyona Ivanovna. The book presented her dwelling place as “a huge house which on one side looked on to the canal, and on the other into the street.” [8] The building fitting this description is located on the Griboedov Canal Quay, 104: one long side stretches along the Griboedov Canal, another – along Srednyaya Podyacheskaya Street, and the short side looks into Rimsky-Korsakov Street. Dostoyevsky gave another key for locating the old woman’s house – the number of steps that Raskolnikov made while walking there: “He had not far to go; he knew indeed how many steps it was from the gate of his lodging house: exactly seven hundred and thirty.” [9] Dostoyevsky, as a military engineer, was used to measuring distances in steps, and, knowing his obsession with precise details, we can presume that the writer gave us the correct number of steps.
Now I had to take the subway to reach the Dostoyevsky Museum located on Kuznechny Lane, 5. Dostoyevsky rented twice apartments in this building: in 1846, at the beginning of his literary career, and in 1878, three years before his death. The main attraction of the museum is Dostoyevsky’s cabinet where he had written his novel Karamazov Brothers. On the massive desk there is an issue of the magazine, Russky Vestnik, with an extract from Karamazov Brothers, Dostoyevsky’s letters, and one of his favorite novels, Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin. Everything on the table is at the particular place because the writer “paid a great attention to this pedantic order” [13]. There are two candlesticks with candles because Dostoyevsky disliked table lamps and preferred to write by candlelight. Since the writer worked a lot, being constantly in dire need for money because of his gambling problem, he often slept in his cabinet on the sofa. Above the sofa there is a reproduction of Dostoyevsky’s favorite picture, “The Sistine Madonna” by Raphael, presented by Sofia Tolstoy (Leo Tolstoy’s wife). Anna, Dostoyevsky’s widow, wrote: “How many times, during the last year of Fyodor Mikhailovich’s life, I found him standing in front of this great picture in such a deep adoration that he did not hear how I had entered.” [14] On February 9, 1881, Dostoyevsky died on the sofa in his cabinet.
Dostoyevsky was buried at one of the most famous cemeteries of St. Petersburg – the Tikhvin Cemetery at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery. The tombstone consists of the Orthodox cross and Dostoyevsky’s bust placed on two books. The cross is adorned by a garland of thorns symbolizing the writer’s sacrifices and hardships. The bust bears a resemblance to the writer because Dostoyevsky’s death mask was used for its creation. Two books, representing two parts of the Bible, symbolize his devotion to the Russian Orthodox Church; additionally, books symbolize his literary career. The tombstone’s inscription in Old Church Slavonic language is a quote from John 12:24: “…unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” This tomb is one of the most visited, and it is often adorned with fresh flowers.
Footnotes:
A short walk from the beach, in a pastoral setting surrounded by a grove of trees, 190 young men of Attica are buried where they fell, heaped in a common grave mound, guarded by a marble relief of the Warrior of Marathon. The tumulus is located five kms from Marathon village. The high mound is blanketed with a carpet of grass, surrounded by what was once the battlefield that covered the swampy ground between the beach and Mt. Pentilikon. Several miles inland there is an archaeological museum devoted to artifacts found in the area. Nearby is the grave mound of the eleven Plataeans who died in the battle, including that of a ten year old boy, the youngest fatality of that fateful day
Shortly before the battle took place, the Athenians knowing they were vastly outnumbered, had sent Pheidippides, a soldier and experienced runner, to Sparta to ask for help. The 140 mile course from Athens to Sparta was rugged and mountainous. Pheidippides ran the course in only 36 hours, but the Spartans agreed to help only once the moon was full, due to religious laws. So Pheidippides ran back to Athens to deliver the disappointing news and immediately afterwards join the small Athenian army to march to the plains of Marathon.
There is a gallery of women runners too. The first woman to run a marathon was from Syros. She was known as “Melpomene” and she ran 40 kilometres of the 1896 marathon the day after it was officially run. She had been denied permission to run in the official race so she decided to run alone. She asked a priest to pray for her protection but he refused, saying he would only bless official athletes. Her finishing time was 5.30 hrs. Today hundreds of women participate in marathons which are held not only in Greece but world-wide.
tell the story of the fall of Alexander the Great’s dynasty. 
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