Liège - Palais des Princes-Evêques

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 Palace was the residence of former Prince-Bishops of Liège and once faced the monumental Cathedral of St. Lambert. Two buildings preceded the present palace, a first palace integrated with the fortifications was built about 1000 by Bishop Notger, but it was destroyed by fire in 1185. The palace was reconstructed under Rudolf of Zähringen. This building was heavily damaged in the sack of the city by the Burgundians and was also burnt in 1505.
On mounting the episcopal throne in 1505, Bishop Érard de La Marck found the palace in ruins and entrusted the construction of a new one to the master builder Arnold van Mulken in 1526. It was finished at the end of the 16th century.
The principal facade on the south was completely rebuilt after the fire of 1734. In 1849, a new west wing was built to accommodate the provincial government.

It now houses the Palace of Justice of Liège and the Provincial Palace, i.e. the government building of Liège Province.
The great courtyard is surrounded by galleries of arcades