Antique & Vintage Postcards

Crisp sepia photo postcard of the Belfry of Bruges (Belfort) rising above the Cloth Hall at the Grote Markt — the 83-meter medieval tower soaring into a pale sky, its Gothic upper stage and corner turrets cleanly rendered, figures small at the base of the square below. The belfry has dominated the skyline of Bruges since the 13th century; its 47-bell carillon still rings out over the market square, and the tower has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999 as part of the Historic Centre of Bruges. In the interwar years, when this card was published, Bruges was already drawing tourists who came to see what they called "the Venice of the North" — its medieval streetscapes largely intact, the belfry the undisputed centerpiece.