Liege

The city of Liege is one of the oldest settlements in Belgium due to its founding in 705 A.C (however, some sources date first mentioning of it in 558). The story of its origin is related to a specific event, when franc Dodon murdered a local church bishop Lambert, motivated by blood revenge. After that Lambert was canonized, and the place of his death became a popular site of pilgrimage. In addition, there is a Square called in honor of the bishop and it is a central place of the city even today, where in the 16th century Palace of Prince-Bishops of Liège was built. It was destroyed and reconstructed for several times, but still remains as a main symbol of Liege.

To get acquainted with this city it is important to mention that Liege has a nickname of “The city under the steel sky”, uniting a big number of metallurgists, gunsmiths and manufacturers of crystal. That is why to make a perfect excursion around the city, one should visit the crystal factory Val Saint Lambert, where a famous Liège crystal was made since 1826; glass-blowing and crystal engraving are also at the demonstration program.

Liege has many attractive historical and cultural places to explore. The historical center of Liege might be considered as a real gift for tourists fond of wandering: it is one of the largest pedestrian areas in Europe with a diameter of nearly three kilometers.

One more symbolic place in Liege worth mentioning is the symbol of independence of medieval Liege in a face of an elegant fountain ”Le Perron” and a City Hall “La Violette”. To understand why they contain the character of independence, one should refer to the history of Liege in 13th century, when members of municipal authority, willing to strengthen their independence from the prince-bishop, began to arrange meetings in the house called "Violet» (La Violette) on the Market Square. As time passed the building was reconstructed once and again, but it was always at the same place. In 1468 it was destroyed by troops of Charles the Bold, the Duke of Burgundy, and in 1691 it was damaged during the siege of French troops. The City Hall is made in the style of French classicism with a pediment decorated with the emblem of the city (built in 1714). On a bronze plaque the name of Megre is engraved, who became famous criminologist in the 1930s and won immortality on the pages of popular detective novels of Georges Simenon, who worked in Liege.

Liege is a city of well-known cathedrals and churches. The Cathedral of Liege, constructed in Gothic style, is dedicated to St. Paul and, simultaneously, is the tomb of St. Lambert. Liege is approved to be one of the seven original cathedral churches, including St. Bartholomew's Church and Church of St. Martin. St. James church is likely to be the most beautiful of all medieval churches. From time to time it served as a route stop for pilgrims, who were heading to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. 

Museums are indisputable part of cultural life of every ancient city and Liege is not an exception. Travelers might visit the Arms Museum, which tells the armorers’ story, the Museum of Walloon Art, which represents a collection of art of 16th-20th centuries, Curtius Museum of decorative art, coins and religious artifacts since the Middle Ages.

Not to hung up long on historical significance of Liege, it is appropriate to mention its current fame of well-known provider of mineral water "Chaudfontaine", the tastiest Belgian chocolate "Galler", as well as the most famous Belgian beer - "Jupiler". It is one of the Belgian provinces, which has German as its official language.

Liege was and will continue to be a place of tourists’ destination for a long time due to its location and being one of the crossroads in Europe: this city is very close to Maastricht in Holland and Aachen in Germany. Moreover, nowadays Liege is considered the third biggest city in Belgium, so, there are a lot of tourist attractions besides historical to have a nice time.