Basilica of the Holy Blood

The Basilica of the Holy Blood features a dark, ornate facade crowded with golden statues that stands out sharply against the rest of the brick buildings on the Burg square. This two-level chapel houses a crystal vial encased in gold, which local tradition identifies as a cloth stained with the blood of Christ. Thierry of Alsace, the Count of Flanders, reportedly brought the relic back from the Second Crusade in eleven fifty. Every year, the city carries the vial through the streets during the Procession.