Liège - Collégiale Saint-Denis

Liège is the center of the largest Walloon agglomeration, and the cultural center of the Walloon region of Belgium. The city, with a population of about 200.000, is located at the confluence of the Ourthe and Meuse rivers.

Around 705, Saint Lambert of Maastricht is credited with completing the Christianization of the region, but conversion may still not have been quite universal, since Lambert was murdered in Liège. To enshrine his relics, the successor, Hubertus (later St. Hubert), built a basilica which became the nucleus of the city.
In 1468, following an uprising of the inhabitants against Burgundian rule, xof Burgundy had the city plundered and systematically destroyed. The few survivors who had fled into the forests—Charles the Bold allegedly had more than 5,000 inhabitants murdered—were only able to return to the city for reconstruction after seven years.

In 1789, partly in connection with the French Revolution, the Liège Revolution occurred. It was directed against the absolutist rule of the Prince-Bishop and was crushed in early 1791 by troops commissioned by the Holy Roman Empire. In 1795, Liège was occupied by French troops and became part of the First French Republic. The Congress of Vienna annexed it to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which in 1830 became the Kingdom of Belgium, to which Liège has belonged ever since.
The church was founded in 987 by Prince-Bishop Notker of Liège. It was part of the first city wall, and the tower was part of the city fortifications. Dendrological examinations of the wood of the nave's roof beams revealed that they date from 1012 to 1015. The Romanesque choir was replaced by the present Gothic choir at the beginning of the 15th century. At the end of the 17th century, the interior of the church was rebuilt in the then-prevalent Baroque style. It was one of the seven collegiate churches of Liège.

After the French Revolution and the dissolution of the chapter in 1797, Saint-Denis lost part of its church treasure.. In 1803, the church was reopened as a parish church.