Antiques Fair in Bruges

Bruges, Belgium, a well-preserved medieval Flemish city--some say the best-preserved medieval city in Europe--will play host to the 11th International Fine Art and Antiques Fair, which opens Saturday and coincides with the last weeks of an elaborate exhibition documenting the work of 15th-Century Bruges artist Hans Memling.

More than 60 dealers from across Europe and the United States are expected to attend the nine-day fair in the long galleries of the Halle, once the city’s cloth market.

“Hans Memling: Five Centuries of Reality and Fiction” at the Groeninge Museum marks the so-called “Memling Year” on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the artist’s death. Few medieval artists were as prolific as Memling (1440-1494), whose portraits, religious paintings and altarpieces are scattered throughout the world. Many of these have been returned to Bruges for the exhibit.

More information about the antiques fair is available from organizers Gil G. & C. Tuteleers in Bruges, tel. 011-32-50-354007, fax. 011-32-50-370587; and from the Belgian Tourist Office, 780 3rd Ave., Suite 1501, New York, N.Y. 10017; tel. (212) 758-8130, fax (212) 355-7675. The Memling show runs through Nov. 15 at the Groeninge Museum.