Inbox: The Secret Global History of Bruges

2026-07-30

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What's a garnet mined in Sri Lanka two and a half thousand years ago doing in a silver hairpin dug up near Bruges? Why are the Duke of Burgundy and the conqueror of Constantinople staring each other down for the first time in history? And, how did most of Belgium forget that its own counts once sat on the throne of Constantinople?Afua turns interviewer as Peter opens the doors on Bigger Picture, the exhibition he has spent four years building to reframe Bruges as one of the great connected cities of the medieval world.It's the...

Afua turns interviewer as Peter opens the doors on Bigger Picture, the exhibition he has spent four years building to reframe Bruges as one of the great connected cities of the medieval world.

It's the opening show at BRUSK, Bruges' vast new exhibition hall — 250 objects from 90 lenders, among them a Memling released from Turin, a Vatican portrait of Alexios I Komnenos that has never been lent before, and Gentile Bellini's Mehmed II brought face to face with Philip the Good. Along the way: a very Belgian silence, a wall of Bruce Springsteen memoirs, the price of medieval pepper — and Peter greeting visitors as a hologram.

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[0:00] Afua opens the Legacy inbox on Peter's four-year secret project

[3:04] A very Belgian silence, a coffee break, and the job is Peter's

[9:13] Asked to pick one object, Peter picks three

[12:20] Philip the Good meets Mehmed the Conqueror, five centuries late

[16:14] How the counts of Flanders ended up emperors of Constantinople

[27:42] Hologram Peter, and how to see the show before 8 September

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