Bruges residents love their city and visitors to Bruges come to admire its charm and heritage. Brugge Foundation aims to keep Bruges livable and make it even more beautiful for its residents and visitors. Brugge Foundation wants to carefully manage real estate that, due to its heritage value, cannot easily get a new appropriate use. Our goal is to give this endangered heritage an appropriate future. Brugge Foundation aims to use and repurpose this heritage in a modern way that respects the city's character and 'the spirit of the place'.
Below you can discover everything about Brugge Foundation: our mission, our vision, our Executive Board, ... In short, answers to the questions who, what, why, where, when and how.
Brugge Foundation is a private, independent nonprofit foundation with an unsalaried Executive Board.
Brugge Foundation essentially concentrates on Bruges' built heritage to guarantee it a socially relevant and sustainable future.
Would you like to read Brugge Foundation's mission and statutes at your leisure:
https://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/tsv_pdf/2020/11/19/20355754.pdf
Ever since 1979, our president has been professionally closely involved in Bruges' heritage conservation, architectural projects and urban planning.
From 2009, Ingrid Leye was head of Department of Monuments and Heritage Affairs of the city of Bruges. Since September 2015, on her retirement, she dedicates herself to Brugge Foundation. Her thorough knowledge of the Bruges’ city centre and her technical expertise make Ingrid Leye the best chairperson Brugge Foundation could wish for. Ingrid Leye studied architecture at Sint-Lucas Hogeschool (Ghent). She is alumna of the Raymond Lemaire Centre for Conservation, then at the College of Europe in Bruges.
Her commitment to Bruges' patrimony also translates into her participation in the Consultative Commission for Urban Landscape (until today) and in the UNESCO Experts Commission for Bruges (until 2023) . In 2014, she was appointed chairman of the jury for the Flemish Heritage Award, a mandate she held until the end of 2022.
Johan Debyser has lived and worked in Bruges since 1972. His attention and interest in Bruges' heritage date back to that time.
The secretary of Brugge Foundation is an alumnus of KU Leuven (Law) and devoted his professional life to public service. From 1976 until his retirement in 2014, Johan Debyser worked for the federal and Flemish governor's departments. In 1991, he became district commissioner and from 2001 on he was the head of cabinet of governors Breyne and Decaluwé. In the latter position, he contributed to the realm of Bruges by upgrading the governor's residence.
Asked why he is committed to the Brugge Foundation, Johan Debyser said: "Bruges should be a modern, vibrant city with respect for its past. Brugge Foundation can become an instrument to give substance to this in a contemporary way." Brugge Foundation is proud of the commitment, dedication and expertise of our secretary. After all, who is better placed than him to support the Foundation's social interest with meticulous experience?
David Serlet was born, lives and works in Bruges and has a perfect feel for the city. Today, this translator-interpreter is committed to teaching foreign-language speakers at SNT Bruges but is also an engaged city guide.
In addition to this, as a city guide, he is a co-initiator and board member of 'Guides with a Heart'.
David Serlet joined Brugge Foundation's Executive Board in January 2019 as an extraordinary board member.
Eric Van Hove was born, worked, and lives in Bruges. He studied sociology, was a critical city journalist in Bruges from 1980 to 2000 and then made the move to the Bruges city council, first as head of cabinet of mayor Patrick Moenaert and then as the responsible person for the City’s Urban Policy Department.
His interests mainly focus on the livability of the city. Thus, he has been and still is formulating sustainable alternatives for the future.
Since his retirement from office, he has been taking up his journalists’ pen and remains aware of what is going on in and around the city. His motivation for participating in the Brugge Foundation? ,,Bruges is a monastic city, one-fourth of the historic city centre is religious heritage. But churches and monasteries are emptying. What happens to these ancient and valuable heritage sites? Surely you cannot leave their future to real estate developers. Finding new uses for old buildings, helping to outline a vision for the future, finding partners and allies to realize projectsf… that seems like an exciting challenge to me.” Urgent too: the next twenty years will be crucially demanding for many heritage cities, as well as for Bruges. So, this concerns all Bruges’ residents, and also people with a heart for Bruges."
Since 1 November 2019, Eric Van Hove has been joining the Executive Board of Brugge Foundation as an extraordinary board member.
Guido Verhaeghe is a native of Bruges and currently lives in Damme. He had an active career in the financial sector. He was active with several banks (including private banking) in various management positions and executive committees.
Given his recent retirement and his interest and love for his hometown of Bruges, he wants to actively contribute to the future preservation of this fascinating and living city.
Today, he wants to use his experience as a financial expert and manager as well as his network for the benefit of Brugge Foundation and its objectives. Or as he puts it himself, "The motivation to engage for the Brugge Foundation is inspired from a day-to-day admiration and wonder for our heritage. After Jan Van Eyck's stay in Bruges in 1431, the epithet "Brugensis" is synonymous with artistic quality. We should cherish all those silent monumental witnesses of our glorious past. After all, Oscar Wilde said " the only duty we have towards history is to rewrite it.... " .
Guido Verhaeghe has been joining the Executive Board of Brugge Foundation as an extraordinary board member since 15 July 2020.
Peter De Wilde studied philology at the Sint-Ignatius University College Antwerpen. Later on he took a special license in medieval studies at the Catholic University of Leuven, where he obtained a master’s degree in literature and philosophy in 2000.
In October 2009, De Wilde was appointed CEO of Visit Flanders. Since 2017, he has been chairman of Davidsfonds. In September 2022, Peter De Wilde also became CEO of Flanders Heritage Agency.
As CEO of Visit Flanders, Peter De Wilde shows a particular interest in a meaningful future for religious heritage in Flanders. He therefore initiated a number of redevelopment projects for religious heritage, of which the reallocation of the former St Godelieve Abbey in Bruges is the pilot project. Given the fact that Visit Flanders and Brugge Foundation work closely together on this project, his membership of the board of Brugge Foundation is an obvious choice.
Peter De Wilde, as CEO and representative for Visit Flanders, has been joining the Executive Board of Brugge Foundation as an extraordinary board member on 18 December 2023.
Kristof Lataire calls himself a ‘scout for a new future of religious sites’. Together with local communities, he searches for a meaningful future of their parish church, monastery, abbey …most often a rich and valuable religious heritage. This is why he founded Kapittel in 2018. Today, in a world searching for a new future for religious heritage, Kristof Lataire wants to add real value. He brings people together around specific issues, engages in conversation, conducts research and shares his expertise and experiences.
At Visit Flanders, Kristof Lataire was project leader of the religious heritage program ‘Travels towards Tomorrow’. Currently he is project leader of the pilot project ’De tuin van Heden’, Visit Flanders' reallocation of the former St Godelieve Abbey and of the monastery of Friars Minor Capuchins, both in Bruges.
He acts on the Executive Board as a deputy for Peter De Wilde, CEO of Visit Flanders.
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