Spotlight on LiègeBy Georges RouzeauThe city of Simenon is going through a period of transformation: a new TGV station, designed by Santiago Calatrava, and an ambitious museum complex, the Grand Curtius, are set to open in 2009. In the meantime, you will be won over by this lively, bustling city and its eclectic heritage, which goes from brassware to “art brut”. First impressions Our arrival in Liège takes us in just a few minutes from Santiago Calatrava’s new, hypermodern TGV station (still under construction) to brick and half-timbered houses from the 17th century, via patrician residences, convents, countless churches and… as many bars. The atmosphere of Liège is also striking for its cosmopolitanism: the city is located on the borders of Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and you hear a very wide range of accents here. A large Italo-Belgian community also lives here, originally coming to work in the mines. Considered as the New Athens from the 15th century, Liège accommodates over 90,000 students who frequent the bars of the “Carré”. It is also a city that is undergoing renovation, as attested by the Grand Curtius project, a museum complex scheduled to open in 2009. Cross the river and you will be in Outremeuse (“beyond the Meuse”), the working class district of Georges Simenon, where a flea market is held every Friday along boulevard Saint-Pholien.  © G. Rouzeau/ViaMichelin A major religious heritageThe history of Liège is remarkable: this stronghold of the Germanic Holy Roman Empire almost obtained its autonomy under the rule of a line of prince bishops that ended in 1795, as the French Revolution was breaking out. It was under the reign of Notger (972-1008) that Liège inaugurated its status as an ecclesiastical principality. The palace of the prince bishops on Place Lambert, built by Notger then entirely rebuilt in the 16th century, symbolises this particular form of government. Later on, the city of a hundred bell towers witnessed the development of a veritable school of “Mosan” (of the Meuse) art, from the 10th century, which soon distinguished itself in the fields of gold-and silver-smithing, cast ironwork and brassware.  Saint-Barthélemy : cuve baptismale © G. Rouzeau/ViaMichelin So part of your stay will be dedicated to exploring the most interesting religious buildings. Start with the Romanesque church of Saint-Barthélémy, which houses an extraordinary piece: a baptismal font made of brass, probably dating from the 12th century – a masterpiece of Mosan art, combining technical skill with artistic elegance. The gothic cathedral of Saint-Paul is also worth a look: its tall, cylindrical columns will guide your gaze towards the arches painted with rinceau (an ornamental motif of scrolls of foliage) from the 16th century. Behind the big pulpit stands sculptor Guillaume Geefs’ superb Lucifer, made of white marble. It is so successful that Satanists regularly come to meditate at its feet: enough to incur damnation, indeed; its excommunication is being considered.  © G. Rouzeau/ViaMichelin Also be sure not to miss the Dead Christ (work by Jean Delcour) whose chest, albeit of marble, looks like it is moving. This sculptor is the baroque hero of Liège, a worthy pupil of Le Bernin and master of the horizontal drape. The cathedral also boasts a treasure that testifies to the wealth and power of the prince bishops of Liège – the reliquary of Charles the Bold, made of gold, vermeil and enamel. Then continue as far as the gothic church of Saint-Jacques, despite it being located far from the centre: its interior architectural decor is a masterpiece of its kind, with its multiple ribbed vaults, painted medallion portraits and sculpted keystones, not forgetting the numerous statues by Jean Delcour… Ideally, you would complete this programme with a visit to the Grand Curtius (which sadly, after numerous delays, will not open until 2009). The Grand Curtius The Grand Curtius is an ambitious museum complex which, all being well (people have lost count of the number of interruptions to the project), should open its doors in early 2009 – the works have been delayed several times. It is the amalgamation of several already existing institutions, whose façades can still be admired. The Grand Curtius will include the Curtius Museum, Glass Museum, Weapons Museum and Museum of Walloon Life. Lifts, footbridges, new exhibition spaces and an amalgamation of the collections should offer a vast overview of Mosan art, from ancient times to the present day. Eagerly awaited is the possibility of once again admiring Notger’s Gospel Book, an ivory piece from the 11th century decorated with enamel and copper plate – there are three of its kind in the world…  Place du Marché © G. Rouzeau/ViaMichelin The old townConsisting of Place Saint-Lambert and Place du Marché, the old town of Liège lends itself well to a spot of idling, from coffee break to shopping, from visit to stroll. Raise your eyes and look everywhere around you: the remains of patrician residences and old convents converted into galleries for antique dealers (like the Ursulines convent) give the town its charm, as do its cul-de-sacs and old walls. Take rue Hors-Château, for example – full of antique dealers, where the peace and quiet contrasts strongly with the hustle and bustle of rue En Féronstrée. This street is named after the “férons” or blacksmiths who worked there in the Middle Ages. Our favourite spot to go for a drink? Place du Marché, which is as old as the town, where several café terraces are lined up at the foot of Le Perron, a monumental fountain which has always symbolised the common freedoms of Liège. Near the cathedral quarter, you can also opt for the “Carré”, made up of a grid of small pedestrian alleys where people come to shop during the day and to party at night in one of the bars, restaurants or clubs there. The festive reputation of Liège is well established, thanks to its thousands of students. The festival of Saint Nicholas on 6th December is one of the highlights of their social calendar. They repaint, in red, the male attributes of the bull by sculptor Joseph Mignon, which stands on Les Terrasses, between the Pont Albert 1er and boulevard d'Avroy, right in the centre of Liège, before going to beg for drinks. You can also choose to have some fun in the Outremeuse district in rue Roture, where the great number of restaurants and cafés makes the Carré pale by comparison. The street’s hour of glory comes on the 15th August, with the commemoration of the birth of the République Libre d'Outremeuse (Free Republic of Outremeuse, inspired by that of Montmartre), an association of Liège born in 1927. A crowd as dense as a Jérôme Bosch painting stands around singing, with a glass of péket (gin) in their hand.  Les puces © G. Rouzeau/ViaMichelin A Friday in OutremeuseThere are other laudable reasons to go for a stroll in the Outremeuse district. Every Friday, a flea market is held on boulevard Saint-Pholien, which starts opposite the Pont des Arches. Of course, if you really want to buy something good, the time to go is between 6 and 6.30am. Otherwise it is an opportunity to walk up and down between two rows of “brol” (a word designating an object of poor quality, and disorder by extension) in the company of a motley crowd of Flemish, Walloon and Dutch people. Halfway along, the old abbey of Val-des-Écoliers (1224) now houses the Saint-Luc de Wallonie Academy of Architecture and the Saint-Luc Institute of Fine Arts. Opposite, the Côté jardin bar and restaurant is the haunt of students, second-hand dealers and bargain hunters. The bar, made of imitation concrete and fake rocaille (watch out for your knees), is in the best of taste... In fine weather, everyone vies for the garden at the rear.  Maison natale du compositeur André Grétry © G. Rouzeau/ViaMichelin Outremeuse is also the birthplace of one of the most famous (and most prolific) novelists of the 20th century, Georges Simenon. The creator of Commissaire Maigret grew up in the shadow of the bell tower of the church of Saint-Nicholas, in the brotherhood of Saint-Roch, right at the heart of Outremeuse. Just opposite the church, the Grétry café, with an almost exclusively Italian male clientele, seems like something out of one of the writer’s novels (the house where he was born is in this street). By writing Le pendu de Saint-Pholien (literally The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien), Simenon also paid homage to his childhood friend, the bohemian painter Joseph Klein, who was found hanging from the door of the church of Saint-Pholien at the top of the boulevard. A brochure following the trail of Simenon is available from the Tourist Board. The route begins in Place Saint-Lambert, where Georges’ parents met; it ends after a loop encircling both banks, on Place Saint-Denis, where the young Simenon used to go and play with the local kids to escape family reunions at the house of his uncle, sacristan of the collegiate church and a terrible bore. Musée d’Ansembourg This fine mansion, an elegant blend of Louis XIV and Louis XV, has kept most of its original décor, predestining it to become a museum of decorative arts. You will be struck in particular by the stuccoed ceilings, wrought ironwork of the staircase and walls hung with leather, Cordova style. Furniture and wall clocks, a card table and a few paintings representing the taste and manner of Liège, complete the residence.  © G. Rouzeau/ViaMichelin The slopes of the citadelThis is Liège, and the place I fell in love with, as one who loves the countryside in the city and vice versa: Bueren Hill and the slopes surrounding its old citadel make a magnificent break, ten minutes away from Place Saint-Lambert. Steps, fortifications, sections of wall, terraces, ancestral streets, meadows and even a farm: a breath of fresh air and poetry, this walk also offers a very beautiful view of the city, stretching out along the Meuse. From this hill, you can see why it was dubbed the “city of a hundred bell towers”. In the Middle Ages, the terraces, which enjoy good exposure and a well-drained subsoil, bore vines and even fig trees. During the Renaissance, the Teutonic Order created a garden here.  © G. Rouzeau/ViaMichelin There are several possible access routes. Descending directly into rue Hors-Château, the 374 steps of the Montagne de Bueren gave the soldiers from the garrison rapid access to the city centre, without going via rue Pierreuse. This road, one of the oldest in Liège, linked the city to Tongeren. It owes its name to the stone quarrying practised there from the 13th century. As well as the pleasure of walking in this working class district that is in the process of “BoBoisation”, the street boasts several interesting addresses, including the Ferme de la Vache at number 113, a place of social rehabilitation through organic market gardening, which also has a table d’hôte once a week. The farm’s name dates back to the 18th century. Beyond the vegetable garden begin the orchards and meadows of Favechamps – a veritable nature reserve in the middle of the city – a radical change of scene! Other museumsThe Museum of Wallooon Art If you could visit only one, this should be it, not for the building – a terrible concrete carbuncle built in the 1980s in the middle of rue Féronstrée, but for its collections, which encompass several centuries of creation in Brussels and Wallonia from around the 16th century to the present day. You will come across Henri Blès, who inaugurated the art of landscape in Walloon country; Lambert Lombard (see also his superb portrait by Mor Antonis), official painter of Prince-Bishop Erard de la Marck and a great humanist; Léonard de France, who painted some heartfelt scenes of everyday life, Boilly style; Antoine Joseph Wiertz, a classic pre-symbolist impossible to categorise, whose Rosine exudes a heady sensuality; Hippolyte Boulenger, leader of the Tervuren school, the equivalent of the French school of Barbizon; Gustave Serrurier-Bovy, decorator, architect and cabinetmaker representing Art Nouveau, and the inventor – long before IKEA – of furniture in kit form… Visit the MAD! Dedicated to creation by mentally handicapped artists (like outsider art), the MAD simply stands for Musée des Arts Différents. In strict terms of artistic quality, the MAD’s collections are every bit as good as other places – these works having been selected for their aesthetic worth alone.  © G. Rouzeau/ViaMichelin Sunday: the Marché de la BatteThis institution of Liège stretches out for more than one and a half kilometres along the banks of the Meuse. Clothes, curios, fruit, vegetables, cheese, fish, charcuterie, Italian products, but also cats, dogs and birds… Moreover, in times past, chaffinch singing contests were organised here. Nowadays you can still have a singsong at Les Olivettes, a musical café where the piano is at the customers’ disposal. At this souk-style market, you can stuff yourself with chips, churros (Spanish doughnuts) and sausage sandwiches, and have a drink at the Café Lequet (which is a restaurant). And above all mingle with the crowd and listen to the mixture of accents and languages peculiar to Liège. Practical informationHôtel Hors-Château, Rue Hors-Château, 62 – 4000 Liège, Tel + 32 (0)4 250 60 68, +32 (0)4 250 56 31. Set in a cul-de-sac in one of the most beautiful streets in Liège, this charming little modern and functional hotel offers nine rooms in an 18th century house. Peaceful and quiet, five minutes away from the Place du Marché and Place Saint-Lambert. Room number 1 is a very pleasant duplex, but watch out for the almost vertical staircase! This hotel is unsuitable for people of limited mobility, since it has no lift. Tourist Board Féronstrée, 92 – 4000 Liège, Tel + 32 (0)4 221 92 21, Fax +32 (0)4 221 92 22. www.liege.be/tourisme Maison du tourisme du pays de Liège (tourist information centre) Place Saint-Lambert, 35 – 4000 Liège, Tel +32 (0)4 237 92 92, Fax +32 (0)4 237 92 93. E-mail: mtpyasdeliege@prov-liege.be. Musée d’Art wallon (Museum of Walloon Art) Féronstrée, 86 – 4000 Liège, Tel +32 (0) 4 221 92 31. MAD musée Parc d’Avroy – 4000 Liège, Tel + 32 (0) 4 222 32 95. Musée d’Ansembourg En Feronstrée, 114 - 4000 Liège |
Tourism and Gastronomy
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