Gouden-Handrei

The Gouden-Handrei is a canal stretch defined by its curved stone quay walls and the high, stepped-gable houses that drop straight into the dark water. This is the oldest industrial corridor of Bruges. In the fourteenth century, merchant vessels loaded and unloaded here, keeping the city connected to the North Sea. The name comes from a prominent golden hand emblem that once adorned a house on the corner, marking the residence of a wealthy guild master who oversaw the heavy shipping traffic below.