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The quaint little street that connects Bruges’ main market place, the Markt, to the Burg is lined with shops selling souvenirs as well as one of the city’s most famous products, lace.

On the west side of the Burg lies the Basilica of the Holy Blood, a chapel lavishly restored in Neo-Gothic style in the late 19th century. Its tiny museum holds its most famous relic, a phial of blood said to be Christ’s.

Beneath the Heilig Bloedbasiliek is another chapel of an utterly contrasting mood. Constructed of hefty grey stone in the 12th century, it is a superb and atmospheric example of muscular Romanesque style, and a reminder of the Burg’s origins as a castle.

One of medieval Europe’s great secular buildings, the Stadhuis (town hall) is a magnificent expression of Bruges’ self-confidence in medieval times, built in 1376–1420 in aptly named Flamboyant Gothic style. It was much restored in the late 19th century.

The Renaissance touched Bruges’ architecture only lightly; this “Old Recorders’ House”, built in 1534–7, is the exception.

In the corner of the Burg is the Renaissance Room, whose star exhibit is the Charles V Chimneypiece, a virtuoso piece of 16th-century wood carving.

This sober 18th-century mansion was the headquarters of the “Liberty of Bruges”, an administrative jurisdiction covering a large region around the city, while Bruges governed itself separately. It now houses the tourist office.

This ultra-modern Pavilion by Toyo Ito was built in 2002 on the site of the “missing” cathedral, to mark Bruges’ year as a Cultural Capital of Europe.

The Provost’s House lining the north side of the Burg is in Flemish Baroque style (1622), with a roof-line balustrade topped by the figure of Justice.

A picturesque street leads off from the south of the Burg, beneath the arch that links the Oude Griffie to the Stadhuis. The name “Blind Donkey St” may relate to a nearby inn famed for its cheap beer.