iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 02/02/2026

seems you used to be able to just go to the new-build hotel and see the remains of the both the Carolingian rotunda and cathedral E arm from the 1955-6 and 1987-9 excavations respectively, but they cracked down on it and you can only go in with official city guides. boo archive.md/yxebZ

screenshot of page translated from Dutch to English. Three men in suits standing in front of wall core (not sure what it is, I'm trying to understand the ruins with very limited info).

Text translated: "From now on, you will only discover these ‘hidden pearl’ in Bruges with a recognized guide: “Some visitors even stole stones from the wall”
From now on, you can only visit the ruins of the St. Donaas Church in Bruges, under the Crowne Plaza hotel on the Burg, with one of the three recognized guide associations. Until recently, interested parties walked into and outside the hotel to discover this hidden pearl. “But things were really going well, says hotel manager Lucas Bakx.
Bart Huysentruyt 20-04-23, 18:28 Last update: 4/20/23, 6:42 PM"

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 02/02/2026

yes, there is also a 10thc emulation of the Palatine Chapel of Aachen excavated under the square pavement, in which Count Charles "the Good" was murdered 2 March 1127 by knights acting on behalf of the embittered Erembald family he was feuding with. i may also have a crack at rebuilding this

Collection of centrally-planned churches in Belgium following Aachen (in French Aix-la-Chapelle).

Aachen, Liège
Groningen, Brugge (Bruges - Sint-Donaaskerk, demolished for a basilican nave c.1184)
Ottmarsheim, Nijmegen, Muizen

From J. Mertens, "Quelques édifices religieux à plan central découvertes récemment en Belgique" Genava: revue d'histoire de l'art et d'archéologie, 1963

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 03/02/2026

So following the proportions of Aachen Dom, here's the massing of the long-lost Carolingian rotunda of the Burges Burg, destroyed 1184 and replaced with a standard Romanesque basilica. It is basically marked out on the pavement today (the successor church isn't) (trees off)

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