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Historic
things worth seeing:
Town
Hall
Huyze St.-Jan
Huyze de Grote Sterre
Kazematten
Brugse poort
(Gate to Bruges)
Stadsvesten
(Town walls)
Schellemolen
Onze-Lieve-Vrouwechurch
St.-Janshospital
farm St.-Christoffel
farm de Stamper
Slekkeput
Musea
Town Hall
Onze-Lieve-Vrouwechurch
Schellemolen
Museum St.-Janshospital
Museum Uylenspieghel
Museum Charles Delporte
Other things
worth seeing
nature reserve the Damme town walls
Damse vaart (Canal Bruges-Sluis)
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  After
a flood in the beginning of the 11th century, people started building
dikes alongside the seabay towards Bruges.
This was done to protect the land against other inundations and to clear
new grounds and to make them suitable for agriculture. Because of
these works and the retreat of the sea, the channel that linked Bruges
to the sea silted up. A canal was dug to connect Bruges
again with the retreated seabay. After the stormflood of 1134, the
Zwin was created. The dikes on the right- and leftbanks of the
Zwin were connected to eachother in a place then called "Ten
Damme". A new canal was dug between Bruges and that place.
At the end of that canal, the people from Bruges built a
lock-chamber. From that moment on, Damme was the harbour of
Bruges.
In the beginning, Damme was called
"Hondsdamme" (Houndsdamme), from which originates the hound in
the weapon of Damme. Nevertheless, that name has nothing to do
with a hound, but with a "honte". Honte is an old
Flemish word that means "muddy place at the mouth of a
stream". The word "honte" was then degenerated to
"hond" (which means hound or dog). An old legend tells
us though that the devil, in the form of a wandering hound, scared the
dikebuilders with his howling. One day, a dikeburst threatened the
town. The dikebuilders smashed the hound's head in and pushed the
corpse into the rupture. Damme was saved from the flood (and from
the howling hound of course). We naturally hope for the dog's sake
that this is only a legend and not reality...
 In
order to stimulate trade, in 1180, count Philips from Alsace gave Damme
townprivileges and exemption of tollrights. Seaships could sail as
far as Damme, where their goods were then overloaded onto smaller
boats. Via a canal, these boats could reach Bruges. During
the first century of it's existence, Damme lived to see it's greatest
flourishing; the oldest monuments in the town center still date back to
that age. Next to the transfer of goods, Damme also had the
staplerights on wine and herring (see Herringmarket/Haringmarkt).
The town flourished and grew fast and soon the construction of the
church (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwechurch)
commenced. Soon hereafter the Halls and the St.-Janshospital
were built. In that age, a lot of other (already dissapeared
buildings) were constructed like: a begijnhof, a guesthouse and several
chapels. The, also dissapeared, St.-Catherinschurch
dates back to that time; this building stood just outside the present
town walls. There was also a court of justice, which proves the
importance of the town. Damme was one of the largest harbours of
it's age. When the French king Phillips August captured the town
in 1213, his entire fleet (1700 vessels!) fitted into the harbour.
In 1262, a canal (called the
"Lieve") was dug from Ghent to Damme. Via a
lock-chamber, the canal entered the town. At first, the canal
reached the Zwin just outside the townwalls. Later on, the canal
was (for strategic reasons) directed inside the townwalls.
Untill that time, Damme was an open town without walls and defence
gates. This changed when in 1297, the French king Phillips
captured the town. Damme was quite rapidly recaptured by the
Flemish. As a result, the first defence structures were
constructed. At the end of the 14th,
begin 15th century a second wall was built around the town.
In the course of time however, the
access to the harbour silted up and the largest ships could no longer
reach Damme directly. At the beginning of the 14th century, the main
trade shifted to other harbours, located closer to the sea.
Especially Lamminsvliet (later on called Sluis),
benefited from this. Damme slowly lost it's importance as
international tradecenter, but the town was far from dead: it got a new
role in history as a military
fortress.
 In
1568, the 80-year war between Spain and the Northern Netherlands
started. When, in 1604, Sluis and Aardenburg
were conquered by prince Maurits, Damme found itself in the fronline of
the war. Between 1615 and 1620, the Spaniards built new
defencewalls in the shape of a 7-star. These walls are still
pretty well preserved and are being restored. Damme was important
because of it's position on the canals, close to Sluis and ideal to
defend Bruges. The mouth of the "Lieve" (canal
Ghent-Damme) was redirected inside the walls and entered the town via a
covered watergate.
That gate was later on used as a weapon storage ("kazemat")
and still exists. Because of the construction of the new walls,
several buildings had to be pulled down (such as the old gates).
The town, or better: the fortress, could only be accessed via 2 new
gates. A military governor ruled the town and it would remain a
military stronghold untill 1760.
During the Spanish Successionwar
(1703-1713) the fortifications were again strengthened. Despite
all these efforts, the town was captured in 1706 by troops of the duke
of Marlborough. Some 80 years later, the fortifications were
publically sold on the command of emperor Joseph II.
 In
1810, Napoleon tried to link Bruges with the Schelde via a new
canal. This plan was never entirely completed and at present day,
the canal goes no further than Sluis. This canal is the famous "Damse
Vaart". Unfortunately, this canal was dug through the center
of Damme, this meant that a lot of buildings had to be demolished.
The "Korenmarkt" and a lot of beautiful gentleman's houses
dissapeared. The 3 streams that juncted in the center of town,
"Lieve" (Ghent-Damme), "Reie" (Bruges-Damme) and
"Zwin" (sea-Damme), and the port of Damme were filled up with
the sand of the new canal.
 Due
to it's rich history and many things worth seeing, Damme is nowadays a
popular touristic center. Popular, but fortunately not too
crowdy. Till far over our borders, Damme is renowned for it's cuisine
and since a few years it is also known as a place where you can buy
lots of old (and new) books.
Worth seeing: historic center with Town
Hall, Market, mill,
church, St.-Janshospital,
several works of art in the street, several old houses like House
St.-Jan and House "de
Grote Sterre", medieval waterwell and pumps, statue of Jacob
van Maerlandt, several museums, Herringmarket,
sluice of the Zwin (Sleckeput),
lock-chamber of the Lieve,
townwalls, watergate,
nature reserve, several old farms around the center, Damse Vaart,
landscape,...
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