For over eight centuries, from 980–1795, a large swath of what is now Belgium was ruled from Liège by a succession of Prince-Bishops (Princes-Évêques), who as the name implies were both the secular and the religious rulers. Separation of church and state was a concept whose time had not yet Read More …
Victor Hugo’s first visit to Liège was in 1840, when he was thirty-eight years old. He was travelling by stagecoach, known in French as a diligence, and was on his way from Paris to the Rhine Valley in Germany. In his book Le Rhin he described his approach to Liège Read More …
The Théâtre Royal de Liège, home of the Royal Opera of the Wallonia, was closed for several years to be reconstructed and enlarged. When I was there in 2011, I had the impression that the original building would be dwarfed by the new tower for stage machinery which was under Read More …
The composer André-Modeste Grétry (1741-1813) was born in Liège, and his birth house has been turned into a small museum. Grétry was extremely popular during his lifetime. He composed about fifty operas, mainly comic operas, none of which I have ever seen or heard. I went to the museum on Read More …
A good way to start a conversation in Liège, Belgium, is to ask people what they think of the new Guillemins Railway Station. The answers I got typically started: “Well, it looks really nice, but . . .” followed by complaints about the high cost (312 million Euros) and especially Read More …
Up on a hill at the south end of Liège, Belgium, there is a church called Sacré Coeur (Sacred Heart) and a tower called the Inter-Allied Monument. These can be seen from many places in the southern half of the city. From a distance, these two monuments look a bit Read More …