Volkskundemuseum, Folk traditions museum in Bruges, Belgium.
The Volkskundemuseum occupies a row of modest whitewashed and dark-brick workers' houses on Balstraat, with red tiled roofs, stepped gables and blue shutters. Inside, themed rooms recreate a classroom, a shoemaker's workshop, a grocery, an apothecary and the tavern De Zwarte Kat, using everyday objects and craft interiors from Flanders.
Poet Guido Gezelle laid the basis for a Bruges folk museum in 1865. The Bond der Westvlaamsche Folkloristen, founded in 1936, held its first exhibition in 1937; after wartime moves, the collection opened in the Schoenmakersrente workers' houses on Balstraat on 29 June 1973. The corner house De Zwarte Kat was added in 1982 and three Rolweg houses in 2003.
The museum recreates working spaces from the past, such as classrooms, shoemaker workshops, and pharmacies, showing how local people earned their living and organized their daily routines. These reconstructed interiors help visitors understand the practical side of traditional Flemish life.
The museum is located on Balstraat and is open Tuesday through Sunday from 9:30 to 17:00. It is part of the Musea Brugge network, connecting you with other museums throughout the city if you wish to visit them.
The museum holds traditional candy-making demonstrations twice a month on Thursday afternoons, showing techniques that have been passed down for generations. Visitors can watch skilled craftspeople recreate sweets using methods from the past.
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