Liège (French: Liège, before 1946: Liége; German: Lüttich;
Walloon: Lîdje) is the capital of the province of Liège in Belgium.
The city is located on the Maas, about 30 km upstream from
Maastricht. The city's nickname is La Cité Ardente (The Fiery City).
This name is first mentioned in Henri Carton de Wiart's 1904
historical novel of the same name.
The municipality of Liège
(January 1, 2019) has 197,327 inhabitants, making it the fourth
largest municipality in Belgium by population. About 30,000
inhabitants have a foreign nationality. The entire urban area of
Liège (with suburbs such as Seraing, Saint-Nicolas, Ans, Herstal
and Flémalle) has about 600,000 inhabitants.
The city is located in the area where the higher Ardennes merge into
the hilly Hesbaye (French: Hesbaye), where the river Ourthe flows into
the Meuse. Two river arms of the Meuse now flow through the city, the
Meuse proper and the partly artificial Dérivation, between which the
Outremeuse district is located. Around the historic center was another
river arm, which was filled in in the 19th century, which can be seen in
the winding course of the Boulevard d'Avroy and the Boulevard de la
Sauvenière.
The city is surrounded by hills that are in fact part
of the Ardennes plateau, in which the Meuse and other waterways have
carved valleys. The most famous hills are the Sainte-Walburge hill, on
which the citadel of Liège is located, the Publémont or Mont
Saint-Martin hill with the Basilica of Saint Martin, and the Cointe
hill, on which there is a monumental building from the period after the
First World War. is visible from large parts of the city.
Etymology
The name 'Liège' is of Germanic origin and may be
reconstructed as liudik-, from the Germanic word liudiz meaning 'people
/ people' (compare the Dutch 'lui(den) / lieden' or the German Leute).
In addition, there are countless other theories about the origin of the
name. The name has been found in a large number of medieval documents;
in Latin in the form Leodicum or Leodium, and in Middle Dutch as Ludic,
Ludeke and variants.
The river Légia is also referred to as the
origin of the name Liège.
History overview
For a long time it
was assumed that Liège was not founded until the 7th or 8th century by
the bishops of Maastricht, but the excavation of an extensive Roman
villa on the place Saint-Lambert in the center of the city has shown
that Liège was already a place was significant. This villa may have been
the residence of Bishop Lambertus in 706, when he was murdered in Liège.
In any case, the later Saint Lambert Cathedral and the adjacent Palace
of the Prince-Bishops arose here. Due to the murder of Lambertus and the
resulting pilgrimage tourism, Liège quickly developed into the new
center of the diocese.
The city's first heyday began at the end
of the 10th century under Bishop Notger. During his reign and that of
his successors Balderik, Waso and Dietwin, the Liège cathedral was
rebuilt and seven new collegiate churches were founded. The foundation
of Saint James' Abbey, a Benedictine abbey, also contributed to the
development of the city. Due to the flourishing of the chapter schools
in Liège, the city was known as the "Athens of the North". Maasland art
flourished in the 12th century. Liège goldsmithery, sculpture and
illuminated manuscripts from that period, such as Reinier van Huy's
baptismal font in Saint Bartholomew's Church, the Vierge de Dom Rupert,
the Sainte-Croix Relics Triptych and the Arenberg Evangelarium (all in
the Grand Curtius) belong to to the masterpieces of the Renaissance of
the twelfth century.
For many centuries, until 1795, Liège was
ruled by the Liège bishops, called prince-bishops from 972. The secular
territory of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège extended over the greater
part of the present province of Liège and the southern half of the
present province of Namur. Moreover, in 1366 the bishops of Liège also
acquired the county of Loon, which largely coincides with the current
Belgian province of Limburg. The capital, Liège, was by far the largest
of the 23 Good Cities (Bonnes-Villes) of the principality.
The
history of Liège is characterized by countless conflicts between the
Prince-Bishopric and the neighboring countries (see, among others, the
Liège-Brabant Wars), but also between the citizens of the city, the
bishops and the noble families (see, among others, the Awans and Waroux
wars). The prince-bishops had to take refuge in neighboring Maastricht
several times. In the 11th century the city was given city walls to
protect itself and a fortress was built on top of a hill, which has been
rebuilt several times over the centuries (see: Citadel of Liège). In
1142 a great fire destroyed a considerable part of the city.
When
the Dukes of Burgundy – later the Habsburg kings of Spain – gradually
united the whole of the Netherlands under their authority, the
Prince-Bishopric of Liège remained as an independent state outside it,
although the Burgundians ensured that no hostile prince-bishops were
appointed. In 1468, in the context of such a power struggle, the city
was "chased" by the Burgundian duke Charles the Bold. The resistance of
the 600 Franchimontese took heroic forms later in Liège historiography.
After the capture of the city, the soldiers misbehaved, with a quarter
of the 20,000 inhabitants said to have lost their lives and the city was
largely destroyed. The recovery took many decades.
While the
Reformation had many supporters in surrounding cities, the Liège bishops
managed to keep the reform preachers outside the city walls. The
iconoclasms of 1566 and 1567 also passed by the city, but they did reach
Hasselt and Maastricht, among others; Bishop Gerard van Groesbeek had
revolts brutally crushed in these cities and in Maaseik. In the autumn
of 1568 William of Orange besieged Liège for three days without success;
his troops plundered the Liège countryside. During the Eighty Years'
War, the bishops of Liège tried to remain neutral between the warring
factions. During the Nine Years' War, Menno van Coehoorn's troops from
the Dutch Republic came to the aid of the people of Liège; however, the
French succeeded in shelling Liège heavily (French shelling of Liège,
1691).
From the 16th century, Liège had developed into an important center
of metal industry, especially arms industry and trade. A large part of
the weapons used in the Eighty Years' War came from Liège. Entrepreneurs
who had become wealthy such as Jean de Corte (1551-1628) built their
city palaces along the Meuse or elsewhere in the city (see Palais
Curtius). The episcopal palace and other buildings have been renovated
in the style of the Liège Renaissance. The arts flourished in the 17th
and even more so in the 18th century (see: Liège Baroque).
In
August 1789, a month after the French Revolution, the Liège Revolution
took place, during which the Prince-Bishop was expelled. The Republic of
Liège only lasted until 1795, after which the city was annexed to
France. In 1794, citizens of Liège, together with French
revolutionaries, destroyed the Gothic Saint Lambert Cathedral, the hated
symbol of the ancien régime. Its empty site forms the current Place
Saint-Lambert. When the diocese was restored in the early 19th century,
St. Paul's Church was elevated to a cathedral.
The University of
Liège (Université de Liège, abbreviated: ULg) was founded in 1817 during
the time of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands under King William I.
In the 19th and early 20th century, Liège and the surrounding area was
an important center of mining and steel industry, which the city came to
great prosperity, which can still be seen in the many stately mansions
from that period. In the first half of the 20th century, three world
exhibitions were organized in the city: those of 1905 and 1930 and the
Exposition Internationale de la technique de l'eau de 1939.
Construction of the forts around Liège started in 1887. The Battle of
Liège, the first battle of the First World War, took place from 5 to 15
August 1914 in the fortress belt around Liège. The city was on the
German attack route through Belgium to France. Few expected Belgium to
resist the considerable German military superiority and for this reason
the tough resistance of the Liège fortresses attracted worldwide
attention. The English newspaper The Times wrote: "Belgium has achieved
immortal fame by crushing the belief in the invincibility of the German
armies." The French government awarded the city of Liège with the Grand
Cross of the Legion of Honour. The resistance of the Liège fortresses
slowed down the German advance and therefore probably influenced the
course of the war. During this battle, Liège was also the first city in
the world to be bombed from the air (by a German zeppelin). Heavy
fighting also took place in and near Liège during the Second World War.
The economic slump of the post-World War II era was the result of
the diminished importance of the mining and steel industries, aging
factories unable to compete with new industrial areas, and the gulf
between inflexible unions and employers. A low point was the general
strike in the winter of 1960-61. The years of economic decline is
visible in the vicinity of Liège in the form of abandoned factory
complexes and dilapidated working-class neighbourhoods. The city center,
plagued for decades by vacancy and failed megalomaniac projects, has
been refurbished, attracting an increasing number of tourists. Symbols
of the 'reborn' city are the futuristic Liège-Guillemins station, the
greatly expanded Grand Curtius museum, the renovated Liège Opera and the
Théâtre de Liège theatre.
On January 27, 2010, fourteen people
were killed when two apartment buildings in rue Léopold collapsed after
a violent gas explosion. On December 13, 2011, a massacre was committed
on Place Saint-Lambert by an early released criminal (see: attack in
Liège). Six people were killed, including the perpetrator himself, and
125 were injured.
Liège was one of the ten most affected
municipalities in the floods of July 2021.
Churches
Saint Andrew's Church (Église Saint-André)
Saint
Anthony's Church (Église Saint-Antoine)
Saint Anthony and Saint
Catherine Church (Église Saint-Antoine et Sainte-Catherine)
Saint
Bartholomew's Church (Collégiale Saint-Barthélemy) with the early
twelfth-century baptismal font of Reinier van Huy
Saint Christopher
Church (Église Saint-Christophe)
Saint Denis Church (Collégiale
Saint-Denis)
Saint Foillan Church (Église Saint-Pholien)
Saint-Gilles Church (Église Saint-Gilles)
Saint James Church (Église
Saint-Jacques), remainder of the former Saint James Abbey
Saint
John's Church (Collégiale Saint-Jean-l'Évangéliste)
Church of the
Holy Cross (Collégiale Sainte-Croix)
St. Martin's Basilica
(Collegiale Saint-Martin)
Saint Nicholas Church (Église
Saint-Nicolas)
Church of Our Lady Immaculately Received (Église
Notre-Dame-de-l'Immaculée-Conception)
Saint Paul's Cathedral
(Cathédrale Saint-Paul)
Saint-Remaclus Church (Église
Saint-Remacle-au-Pont)
Church of the Holy Sacrament (Église du
Saint-Sacrament)
Church of Saint Servatius (Église Saint-Servais)
Saint Walburga Church (Église Sainte-Walburge)
Chapel of Saint Roch
(Chapelle Saint-Roch)
Saint Augustine Chapel (Chapelle
Saint-Augustin)
Chapel of the Daughters of the Cross (Chapelle des
Filles de la Croix)
Abbey of Our Lady of Peace (Abbaye de la
Paix-Notre-Dame)
Museums
Grand Curtius, the museum that traces
the history of the city and the Prince-Bishopric through an extensive
collection; former residence of Jan Curtius
Prehisto Museum,
Prehistoric Museum; reopened in 2016. In the municipality of Flémalle
Archéoforum, with archaeological remains of a Roman villa and Saint
Lambert's Cathedral
Treasury of Saint Paul's Cathedral (Trésor de la
Cathédrale) including precious medieval reliquaries
Ansembourg
Museum, 18th-century city palace with very rich furnishings
Botanical
Gardens University of Liège
Museum of Fine Arts (Beaux-Arts Liège)
Museum La Boverie (since 2016, before 2013: Museum of Modern and
Contemporary Art MAMAC) in the Center for Fine Arts of Liège
Museum
of Walloon Life (Musée de la Vie Wallonne), folkloric museum
Tchantches Museum, puppet museum with small puppet theatre
Musée
Grétry, home of the 18th-century composer André Ernest Modeste Grétry
House of metallurgy and industry of Liège
Wallonia Public Transport
Museum
Musée Liégeois du Luminaire
House of Science
Aquarium-Museum
Territoires de la Memoire
MADmusée
Sart-Tilman
Open Air Museum
Zoological Museum Liege
Other places of
interest
The Place Saint-Lambert with the Archéoforum and the Palace
of the Prince-Bishops in Liège Renaissance style
The Place du Marché
(Market) with the 18th-century town hall of Liège and the Liège
platform, the symbol of the city
The Féronstrée neighborhood with a
large number of historic churches, city palaces and the most important
museums; the famous Sunday flea market along the Maas is also held here
The Montagne de Bueren, staircase with 374 steps, leading from the rue
Hors Château in the historic center to the citadel of Liège
Some
remnants of the medieval city walls, including at the Commandery of
Saint Andrew
The Art Deco Monument to the Inter-Allied Forces on
Cointe Hill
The great cemetery of Robertmont
The Liège-Guillemins
station by architect Santiago Calatrava
Rail and trams
Due to early industrial development, Liège has had
a very extensive rail network with many industrial connections (see
map). The difference in height between the river and the plateaus near
Ans could hardly be bridged. The direct railway line between Ans and
Guillemins could not be used by freight trains due to the considerable
incline. Two alternative routes have been constructed for this purpose,
including a city railway that runs through the center of the city. The
city's main station, Guillemins station, a major transport hub, is
outside the center. The Liège-Saint-Lambertus station is in the heart of
the city, located on the city line to Herstal. Liège-Carré is also on
the same line.
On January 20, 1872, the first tram line,
Guillemins Coronmeuse, was opened by "The liège tramway company Ltd".
Several other tram lines soon followed, opened by various tram
companies. After the mergers, only three tram companies remained of
these companies:
TULE: Tramways Unifies de Liège et Extensions
RELSE: Railways Economiques de Liège-Seraing et Extensions
NMVB: The
national company of neighborhood railways that operated a city network
in addition to the regional lines.
The TULE and RELSE trams ran
on standard gauge and the NMVB trams on meter gauge.
In the early
sixties of the twentieth century, the TULE and RELSE tram lines were
merged into the STIL (Société des Transports Intercommunaux de Liège),
but on September 1, 1964, the last two tram lines, 1 and 4, were bussed.
There are now plans to build another tram line and in the last century
there was a metro project, the TAU (Train Automatique Urbain), an
automatic metro. A prototype of this can be seen in the Museum of Public
Transport of Wallonia.
Trolleybuses were introduced in 1930,
which were better suited to the slopes than the weakly motorized buses
of the time. The last trolleybus line was discontinued in 1971. A Liège
tram is currently being introduced, which is expected to start operating
from 2022.
Port
The Port Autonomous de Liège (PAL), the
autonomous port of Liège, is the first inland port in Belgium and the
third inland port in Europe (21.8 million tons in 2008). The port is
located along the Maas and at the end of the Albert Canal.
Airport
Liège Airport, also known as Liège-Bierset Airport, (ICAO:
EBLG/IATA: LGG) is an airport 10 km west of the city of Liège. The
airport is located on the territory of Bierset, a borough of
Grâce-Hollogne. In Belgium, it is the largest freight airport and the
third largest passenger airport after Brussels Airport and Brussels
South Charleroi Airport.