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February 24, 2005

Het Volksmuseum

The "Volksmuseum" in Bruge provides a fscinating glimpse of Bruge in the late 19th and early 20th Century. Various rooms recreate the "Apotheker", the "Skool", the dairy, the baker, the cobbler, and the domestic kitchens, living rooms, and various tradesmens workshops.

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The Schoolmaster waits for his pupils. Even the children's smocks hang from the pegs and their "Klompen" (Clogs) are neatly placed below them.

A few rooms away a domestic kitchen is filled with the family's coppers, the cradle, and a uniquely designed stove which provided heating, hot water, and cooking surfaces with a small but efficient fire box.

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A family's kitchen from the late 19th Century. Note the design of the stove.

This old brewery and public house houses a truly fascinating window on the lives of our grandparents and great grandparents. It brings together the lives of the people who populated Bruge for the last two centuries, but it also serves to remind us of just how harsh life was without our modern conveniences! Just a glance at the array of bottles and their labels on the shelves of the Apotheker is enough to remind us that there were no "magic bullets" in terms of medicine - everything depended on the doctor and the apotheker being able to find the right concoction for your survival and recovery!

The appliances in almost every display remind you that it required constant and unrequiting work to achieve things that today we simply flick a switch for and walk away from. There were no easy options - unless you were rich enough to afford to hire others to do it for you. Most were not.

Another "must see" when in Bruge.

Posted by The Gray Monk at February 24, 2005 08:08 AM