New Athens.

In the 16^th century Bruges became just one of the many cities of the huge Habsburg Empire. In addition, the Emperor Charles V had a preference for Antwerp, which was slowly overtaking Bruges role as seaport. The last Venetian galleys entered the Zwin sea-arm in 1520, but the silting was unavoidable and the connection with the sea lost. Trade declined, slowly in the beginning, faster towards the end of the century.

Nevertheless intellectual and artistic life flourished. The city continued to attract great painters such as Gerard David, whose style was still related to the Flemish Primitives, and Pieter Pourbus, a Renaissance painter who produced maps, portraits and altarpieces. Leading humanists like Erasmus, Juan Luis Vives, Thomas More and Joris Cassander were frequent visitors and Erasmus went so far as to call Bruges "New Athens".

The intellectuals also embraced Protestantism, the movement started by Luther in 1517, and in 1581 the Protestants managed to gain control over the city. However, the Habsburg rulers, devoted Catholics, reacted strongly and succeeded with military campaigns and ruthless persecution to regain control, at least in the southern part of the Netherlands. Besides the fact that this was how Flanders got separated, till today, from the rest of the Dutch speaking regions, it was also the final blow for Bruges.

The protestant intellectuals left and fled to the north. Among them were for example Marcus Gheeraerts, the talented painter and engraver who produced the map that will be used for the walking tour "Discover Bruges", and Simon Stevin, a famous mathematician. In this way, Bruges, and with it many other Flemish cities, helped to build what would become the northern neighbor’s (Holland) Golden 17^th Century. Meanwhile Bruges leading role was definitively over.