Bruges: the city

Considering how nearby towns such as Ypres were completely flattened during WWI (the Flanders battlefields are also close by, though we decided not to repeat the 1914 experience of visiting trenches in mud season), Bruges is one of the few medieval cities left in Europe that remains almost entirely intact.

This feat is attributed to a combination of economic bad luck in the 16th century, which kept the town from being razed and rebuilt in more modern forms. The harbor silted up, and without a direct route from the sea, the commerce that kept Bruges afloat for centuries disappeared - along with the money. No one was going to demolish medieval houses with fairytale, stairstep rooflines and build grand boulevards in a town with no commercial value.

Yay for that.

Then, the wars. Bruges was occupied by Germany in 1914, not long after the beginning of WWI. They obviously weren't going to demolish their own base. The Allies did a lot of damage to nearby ports, where German submarines were kept, but by then, the value of the undamaged medieval architecture had begun to be acknowledged, and the Allies declined to be the ones to damage the town.

During 1944, Bruges was almost caught in the German retreat. As they fell back, thtey desttroyed roads and bridges to slow the approaching Allied armies. When they left Bruges, however, the Canadian Army was so hot on their heels that they just... let it go.

So Bruges exists as it does - as it did - because of a confluence of events no one could have predicted.

In the 1970s, the town really buckled down to what it was, and instituted a rigid building code that any new construction had to fit in with the existing aestthetic. They were successful. Bruges is now a UNESCO World Heritage site, and well worth the visit.