Wealthy people enjoy flaunting their expensive possessions. That’s how it is today and it was no different in 15th and 16th-century Bruges.

Society’s elite recite their prayers from illuminated books of hours, while they kneel on benches produced by the very best woodcarvers. They wear jewellery that they keep in specially made boxes. They sing songs together and listen to beautiful, polyphonic compositions. They decorate their homes with costly tapestries and artistically crafted furniture. They have their initials or coat of arms added to corbels (the ends of oak beams). And their children, well, they play with toy soldiers – just like children do today.

Welcome to the high society of 15th and 16th-century Bruges! How did these extremely wealthy people actually live? What appealed to them? How did they look after themselves? What did they like to show off? You'll find out here, in room 5. The external wall of this room is the east façade of the building, or the Reie façade. You were able to explore this façade in the tactile element corresponding to number 2 of this audio guide. You might be able to hear the sound of the tourist boats outside. They sail along the Reie, which flows past the museum.

The room contains a double portrait showing two citizens of the Bruges elite. Filips Dominicle held several important official positions in the city. He was married to Barbara Ommejaeghere. In the background there's a traditional Bruges cityscape, of the kind we often see in portraits and religious paintings. Successful citizens liked to emulate successful Bruges...

In this room you will also find the ultimate in expensive interior showpieces that adorned many city palaces: a tapestry made from wool and silk. Flanders was known for its tapestries. They were frequently commissioned as a series. They were custom-made and often personalised, featuring the client's coat of arms. In the black border on the right in this tapestry, which measures 2.2 by 2.1 metres you can see the Gothic B for Bruges, a weaver's spool and a monogram, which is a kind of signature, of the unknown weaver. As a result, we know the tapestry was produced in Bruges. It depicts a battle scene from classical antiquity, with two horsemen as the main characters.

A tapestry like this provided cold walls with a sense of warmth and cosiness. The Dukes of Burgundy too lived, as it were, among their tapestries. They took them with them from city to city, and from palace to palace. In the tactile element corresponding to number 14 you can explore a fragment of tapestry like these.

Faith determined everything in the lives of medieval people. From the cradle to the grave. Christian festivals divided up the year, and people practised their faith in church, on pilgrimages, during processions. Every day they prayed to God, Jesus, Mary and the many saints. Also privately. Everything you did and thought was dominated by life after death, when you would be punished or rewarded for your life here on earth.

The luxury objects you can see here bear witness to that faith among the elite. These citizens used objects to deepen their prayers at home. Thus, the cross is the symbol of Christianity: Jesus Christ died on the cross to save mankind. Those who could afford it also bought a painting or statue of, for example, Mary with the Child Jesus, or of the suffering Christ. It was easier to empathise if you had a visual representation.

People also used a so-called book of hours, an example of which is exhibited here: it is a manuscript with the texts of prayers to be read and recited at specific times of day. You respectfully knelt on a prayer or kneeling bench. This Bruges example features the names Jesus and Mary at the top.

Here you can touch replicas of everyday objects from the 15th and 16th centuries.

This tactile element consists of four parts. If you start at the top on the left and move in a clockwise direction you can feel a shoe, a fragment of tapestry, a toy made of tin and a spoon.

We begin top left, with the shoe. It is an open shoe with a striking, pointed toe. The high heel almost touches the left edge of the tactile panel. The heel merges into the rest of the sole and is made from wood. The sole starts off relatively wide at the heel and tapers towards the centre of the foot, but then something strange occurs: around halfway along the foot the sole suddenly gets a lot wider and then narrower again. The sole ends in a prominent point.

If you move your fingers from the prominent point to the centre of the shoe and upwards, you can feel two leather pieces fixed to each side of the sole with tacks. The pieces of leather get narrower as you move upwards. One part passes through a narrow gap in the other part. This is how the shoe was fastened at the top.

The whole thing resembles a modern, peep toe clog. Although the prominent toe is still a striking detail... These extraordinary shoes are wooden pattens. You wore them to prevent your own beautiful leather shoes from getting dirty in the muddy streets.

To the right of the shoe we find the second item on this tactile panel, the tapestry. Number 12 of the audio guide already provided you with information about tapestries and there is more to come in the museum, but here you can feel a fragment of tapestry. Can you feel how fine the weave is? Maybe you can even distinguish the horizontal from the vertical threads? This fragment of tapestry is regularly replaced; this is why we do not describe its contents in this audio guide.

The third item is a toy made out of tin. You can find it on the right at the bottom of the tactile panel. In the corner you can feel an enlarged version with the details. To the left of this element you will find a life-size version of the same toy. Let's start there.

The life-size toy is very dark. The little tin figure is embedded in a slight elevation in the same colour as the black background of the tactile panel. Maybe you can make out a horse with a person sitting on it, but it is all very small and delicate.

On the right of the little tin horse you will find the enlarged version. If you move your hand a little to the right of the original, small toy, you can feel the legs of the horse. The body of the horse has a light structure. Approximately halfway along the body, on the back, you feel the structure merge into a smooth surface. This is the rider, sitting on the horse. It is a knight. On the right side you can feel that he is holding a sword. The sword is raised. The top of the sword almost reaches the same height as his head. The head has an irregular shape because of the headpiece the knight is wearing. He is holding the horse's reins in his left hand. If you follow the line of the reins you reach the horse's mouth. A little higher and you might be able to make out the animal’s two ears sticking out.

The fourth and final item on this tactile panel is a spoon. You will find this silver-coloured spoon in the bottom-left corner. The spoon has an elegant, fairly short handle. At the end you can feel a slight thickening. This is a decorative element. At the other end is, of course, the bowl of the spoon.

The next element you can explore corresponds to number 15 in the audio guide. To reach this tactile element follow the route to room 6, behind you, diagonally to the right. The tactile element is located in front of you in the right corner. Watch out for the step on the way.