Bruges, what to do in Belgium: Visit Michelangelo's unique Madonna - 4K video

Описание: Everyday our cameraman goes for a stroll in Bruges. Today he stops at the Church of Our Lady, to offer you a 5 minutes break next to a unique sculpture by Michelangelo.


The ‘Madonna and Child’ was carved in Italy by Michelangelo Buonarotti (° Caprese, 1475 - † Rome, 1564) around 1503.


The Bruges merchant Alexander Mouscron, who was in Florence at the time, bought the sculpture and donated it in 1514 to the Church of Our Lady in Bruges. It is the only sculpture by Michelangelo that left Italy during his lifetime.



All this time the sculpture was in Bruges until it was stolen for the first time by the French occupier in 1794. On January 3, 1816, after the defeat of Napoleon, the sculpture returned.


In the night of September 6-7, 1944, just a few days before the Liberation, the sculpture was removed for the second time, now by the German occupier, who wanted to avoid that the marble statue and some paintings which they also removed would fall in the hands of ‘American Jews' - or so they said.


The artworks were brought to Austria by ship across the Netherlands and Germany, where they finally ended up in the salt mine of Altaussee. In 1945, the ‘Monuments Men’ managed to avoid the destruction of the works.
Back in Bruges

On November 12, 1945, the sculpture of the ‘Madonna and Child’ was brought back to the city solemnly and returned to its place in the Church of Our Lady, where it still stands today.



Michelangelo's depiction of the Madonna and Child differs significantly from earlier representations of the same subject, which tended to feature a pious Virgin smiling down on an infant held in her arms.


Instead, Jesus stands upright, almost unsupported, only loosely restrained by Mary's left hand, and appears to be about to step away from his mother. Meanwhile, Mary does not cling to her son or even look at him, but gazes down and away.


It is believed the work was originally intended for an altar piece. If this is so, then it would have been displayed facing slightly to the right and looking down. The early 16th-century sculpture also displays the High Renaissance Pyramid style frequently seen in the works of Leonardo da Vinci during the late 1400s.


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