hors-châteaudiscovery route

Wedged between the Meuse Valley and the citadel hill, the Hors-Château district has retained many remarkable monuments that pay witness to the richness of the heritage in Liège. The district is also renowned for its peaceful cul-de-sacs, contrasting with the nearby urban hustle and bustle. Lastly, its many museums are an invitation to discover the city, its history, folklore and emblematic sites.

Duration : 2 hrs.

Photos : © Office du Tourisme et Urbanisme ville de LiègePlan : © les contributeurs d’OpenStreetMap Drawings : © Milú Mascarenhas

The butcher’s hall and Maison Havart

La Batte

Féronstrée

Ansembourg Museum

Grand Curtius Museum

Saint-Barthélemy Collegiate church

Cour Saint-Antoine

Hors-Château

Former church Notre-Dame-de-l’Immaculée-Conception

Montagne de Bueren

Fountain Saint-Jean-Baptiste

Liège Lighting Museum

Museum of Walloon Life

Place du Marché

The Perron

Townhall

Place Saint-Lambert

Archeoforum: underneath place Saint-Lambert

Palace of the Prince-Bishops

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1. The butcher’s hall and Maison Havart

The butcher’s hall is one of the oldest civil buildings in the city. Erected in 1546, it was built for the butchers’ corporation, known as the Mangons. Their coat of arms is visible above each entrance. The interior, with its roof frame and columns from the 16th century, is worth the detour. Renovated in the 1990’s, it is occupied by

the tourist office for the Liège region. Not far from there, on Quai de la Goffe, stands a corbelled house. Named Maison Havart, it bears the words 16e siècle (16th century) on its façade. However, it is said to have been modified in the second half of the 17th century.

2. La Batte

Spread along the banks of the Meuse River, La Batte is the name given to the Sunday market in Liège. In Walloon, the word batte means an embankment or quay. Often presented as the oldest and biggest market in Belgium, La Batte is a very colourful place that attracts many visitors, including many inhabitants of

neighbouring countries. It is therefore not rare to hear words in German or Dutch. On Sundays, it is often a good excuse for a stroll along the quays of the Meuse River.

3. Féronstrée

Féronstrée, the shopping street in the historical heart of the city, is one of the oldest arteries in Liège. It links the Place du Marché (market square) to Place des Déportés. Féronstrée literally means 'ironmongers' street. Metalworkers, farriers and blacksmiths lived on the street in centuries gone by. The street plays host to

many listed buildings including several museums. It is also well known to history enthusiasts, for, according to an inscription visible on the façade, it was at number 6 that the Emperor of the Holy Empire Henri IV died on 7th August 1106.

4. Ansembourg Museum

The Hôtel Ansembourg is occupied by the museum of the same name. Built in 1738 for Michel Willems, as the initials on the balcony infer, this townhouse is a fine example of the Regency style. However, the building took on the name of Ansembourg, the family that occupied the premises for sixty years. Purchased by the city in 1903, the townhouse was transformed into a museum dedicated to the decorative arts of the 18th century. The Ansembourg Museum plays host to an important collection of furniture from the Liège region dating from this period. It pays witness, through its architecture and collections, to the refined lifestyle of the century of the enlightenment.

5. Grand Curtius MuseumOpened in 2009, the Grand Curtius museum brings together religious art, Mosan art, weaponry, decorative arts, glassware and archaeology. The museum possesses themed sections and a chronological exhibition sequence that retraces the history of the Liège region. Jean Curtius was a famous munitions manufacturer who built up a considerable

fortune. His imposing house built on the banks of the Meuse River was proof of his wealth. Completed in the 17th century, today it plays host to the temporary exhibitions of the Grand Curtius museum.

6. Saint-Barthélemy Collegiate Church

The exterior of this building made of coaly sandstone in the 11th and 12th centuries, was restored recently in its original style. Although it has been renovated several times, the Saint Bartholomew Collegiate Church has retained its Romanesque style throughout the centuries. The interior was refurbished in the 18th century in Baroque style. Also inside the church, the baptismal fonts of Saint Bartholomew are considered to be a masterpiece of early 12th century goldsmithery. Through the high quality of their reliefs and the skill with which they were made, they are often presented as one of the seven wonders of Belgium.

Not to be missed• thegrandorgans• 12thcenturybaptismalfonts• 18thcenturydecorations• thenarthex,etc.

10. Montagne de Bueren

A feat of engineering characteristic of the breakthroughs of the 19th century, the Montagne de Bueren allowed a direct link between the barracks and citadel in the city centre. The name of this flight of stairs, boasting no less than 374 steps, is evocative of the aborted overthrow carried out by 600 men of Franchimont. Led by Vincent de Bueren and Gossuin de Streel, they attempted during the night of 29th October 1468, to capture Charles the Bold and Louis XI. Contrary to the common belief among the people of Liège, the 600 men of Franchimont never took this route.

11. Fountain Saint-Jean-Baptiste

This fountain has been in place since the medieval era and was re-built in 1634. Until 1667, it had a bare summit, crowned simply by a piece of rock. At that point in time, Jean Del Cour was commissioned with producing a statue depicting Saint John the Baptist. He also crafted the bas-relief adorning the door to the fountain. The works of Jean Del Cour, a renowned Baroque sculptor from Liège, can be found at different points throughout the city.

7. Cour Saint-Antoine (Saint-Antoine Yard)

Combining apartment buildings and houses dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, Cour Saint-Antoine is an interesting architectural ensemble. The houses were restored in 1978 and 1985 by the architect Charles Vandenhove. The fountain at the centre of the square was built in 1982. It crosses the street and, via a channel, links a Maya inspired pyramid

to a small obelisk. This work was created by the artists Anne and Patrick Poirier.

8. Hors-Château

The most beautiful street in Liège’s old quarters owes its name to the fact that it lay outside the first city walls built on the orders of Notger at the end of the 10th century. From the 14th century onwards, Hors-Château was occupied by the nobility and religious institutions. The street boasts houses from the 17th and 18th centuries, of which some are adorned with

extravagant emblems. It also possesses cul-de-sacs and archetypal small streets, lined with smaller houses, displaying the diversity of housing in the old quarters. Lastly, the street is lined with magnificent townhouses dating from the 18th century.

9. Former church Notre-Dame-de-l’Immaculée-Conception

Dating back to the first half of the 17th century, Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, the old church of the discalced Carmelites, is baroque in style. On its sale during the Revolution, it was purchased by the former Carmelites and in 1838 become the property of the Redemptorist friars. Its three-storey high façade bears the coat of arms of Prince-Bishop Maximilien-Henry of Bavaria. It is decorated with many statues including one of Saint Hubert, with a dear at his feet and, above, one of Saint Lambert, holding a book. On the other side, a statue of Saint Roch, with his faithful dog and, again above, one of Saint Alphonsus decorates the right-hand side of the façade.

Former church Notre-Dame-de-l'Immaculée-Conception

Fountain Saint-Jean-BaptisteImpasse de la Vignette inaccessible

12. The Liège Lighting Museum

Completely destroyed in the wake of the Second World War, the buildings on Rue Mère-Dieu were rebuilt using old building façades originating from different areas the city. Next to the access tunnel to the Areine of Richonfontaine underground stream, which supplies the Saint-Jean-Baptiste fountain with water, the building at number 2 on this street is the home of the Lighting Museum. Also known as MULUM, it is an invitation for visitors to retrace the history of lighting from the dawn of time to the present day. Far from a solely functional use, some lamps are veritable works of art that illustrate the thinking of an era.

13. Museum of Walloon Life

A former monastery of the Franciscans, rebuilt in the 17th century, it was entirely restored and reengineered in 2008. The cloisters are a fine example of the Mosan style which, as its name suggests, is an architectural style visible in the Meuse Valley. The museum plays host to many objects and documents related to daily life

in Wallonia. Next door, Saint-Antoine, the former church of the monastery, is accessible during the temporary exhibitions that it houses. Its baroque façade, built in the 17th century, was restored in the 19th century.

14. Place du Marché Place du Marché (the market place) is the oldest square in the city. Two of the city’s symbols can be found here: the Perron and the townhall. A hub for trade and civil liberties, it has been the theatre of major local events. Today it opens out on to Place Saint-Lambert, but previously it was closed off at this place by the eastern cloisters of the Notre-Dame & Saint-Lambert

Cathedral. Lining the square’s sides, there are several houses dating back to the end of the 17th century and the 18th century. Behind the houses, the dome of the Saint-André church can be seen. Built in the 18th century, the church, desacralized during the Revolution, is today inaccessible.

15. The Perron

This monument symbolises the city’s liberties. The Perron is the stone column that makes up the upper part of the structure. The Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, wanting to punish the people of Liège and display his grip on the principality, had it sent to Bruges. It only returned on the death of Charles the Bold in 1477. After having been knocked over by a violent storm in 1693, the current monument was rebuilt by Jean Del Cour, who added the group of the Three Graces, the name given to the women holding a pine cone adorned with a cross.

16. Townhall

Traditionally called La Violette, in keeping with the coat of arms of the house that hosted the city council in the Middle Ages, the townhall was bombarded in 1691 by the troops of Louis XIV. Rebuilt in classical style as from 1714, it was completed in 1718, as indicated on the pediment. Also visible on the top of the pediment are the

coat of arms of Prince-bishop Joseph-Clément of Bavaria. Richly decorated, the townhall is still today the centre of the conurbation’s power.

17. Place Saint-Lambert

A little more than 200 years ago, this zone was still occupied by the gothic Notre-Dame & Saint-Lambert Cathedral. Lambert, the bishop of Maastricht, was assassinated here in 700. Several religious buildings followed in its footsteps until 1793, the year in which a group of revolutionaries from Liège voted to destroy the cathedral.

It took almost 35 years to remove it entirely from the landscape of Liège. Today, the layout of the place is reminiscent of the former cathedral. The alignment of its walls is evoked by the presence of metal pillars and its blueprint by the way in which the area is paved.

18. Archéoforum: underneath Place Saint-Lambert

The Archéoforum is an archaeological museum inaugurated in 2003. It takes allows visitors to discover the history of Place Saint-Lambert, from the Mesolithic era to the present day. The sub-soil of the square contains remains of previous occupiers: prehistorical traces, the walls of a Gallo-Roman

villa and the ruins of medieval buildings including the Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals.

19. Palace of the prince-bishops

The palace of the prince-bishops is an exceptional architectural ensemble that is today occupied by the courts and provincial government. It obtained its current allure in 1526 thanks to Prince-Bishop Érard de La Marck. It is possible to make out two adjoining courtyards, of which only the first is accessible to the public. The sixty columns topped with richly

decorated capitals depicting fantastical human figures and grotesque masks are all different. They pay witness to the movements of humanist thinking in the Renaissance as well as to the discovery of the New World. Devastated by a fire in 1734, the southern wing was re-built. In 1849, the western wing was added, built in a neo-gothic style, in order to house the provincial government.

A ‘green lung’ located near the Historic Centre of the city, the Coteaux (hillsides) of the Citadelle provide wonderful views over Liège and the valley of the River Meuse. Combining nature and heritage, it contains several of the city’s emblematic monuments. From the Montagne de Bueren stairway (374 steps), to the remains of the 13th-century city walls, plus delightful smells from the trees, the hillsides of the Citadel conceal a whole of treasures to discover... Five signposted walks have been created for visitors to move around the site, which has been awarded 3 stars by the Michelin Green Guide.

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13, quai de la Goffe – Liège+32 (0) 4 221 92 21info@visitezliege.bewww.visitezliege.be

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