Bruges No. 14 / Brugge

Baptismal font made of dark polished limestone; it is octagonal from top to bottom and decorated with several parallel mouldings. It is located in one of the chapels of the cathedral church that was made to serve as baptistery, and it appears to be used for regular baptisms instead of the main large font in the Droogscheerderskapel. On-site notes: we found two fonts in this church, both of them modern; 1)one is located in a chapel at the W end of the S aisle; this font, which could be 16th-century, appears to be made of dark Tournai limestone and it consists of a moulded octagonal basin raised on a moulded octagonal pedestal base, with a splaying lower base of the same shape; the general design would fit fonts in this area from the 16th through the 19th century; it has a modern font cover consisting of a wooden platform with two semicircular ribs crossing at the top; 2)the second font, located in the Droogscheerderskapel, is modern, perhaps 19th-century, consisting of a large octagonal marble font decorated with an incised arcade of trefoiled arches and a large coat-of-arms with the motto "ME STELLA DUCE"; the inside of the basin is divided into two compartments, as many modern are. The arms are identified in Chassant & Tausin (1878): "Me stella duce.- Tieghem de ten Berghe (Belgique.) -- Armes: d'or à ta fasce de gueules chargée d'une épée d'argent garnie d'or, posée en fasce et accompagnée de trois étoiles d'azur." A communication to BSI from Pol Herman (e-mail of 19 September 2023) informs: "The St. Jacob's Chapel of the St. Salvator Church in Bruges was founded in 1360. Since then it has been used for various purposes. Wall paintings refer to the sixteenth century when the chapel served to guide pilgrims from the north to Saint James in Compostela. In 1997 the parish established the baptismal chapel here. The massive monumental baptismal font in the church was no longer used from then on. In the centre of the chapel stands a polished, sixteenth-century limestone baptismal font. The baptismal font has a modern circular lid in oak. Two stainless steel brackets are mounted on the lid. A cross-shaped hole has been made through one of those brackets, facing north-south. At true noon (solar time), the sun's light through this hole casts a light spot on the lid. At the vernal equinox and the autumn equinox, the sunlight falls precisely on the centre of the lid. The Bruges interior designer Rik Gerard designed the lid of the baptismal font as a sundial indicating the date of March 21, because Easter is celebrated on the night from Saturday to Sunday after the first full moon of spring. The location of this sundial is 51°12'21" north latitude and 3°13'22" east longitude. This baptismal font is not mentioned in KIK-IRPA database."