(Luik), a province in eastern Belgium, in the basin of the Meuse River. Area, 3,900 sq km; population, 1,015,300 (1971). The city of Liege is the province’s capital. The province is an important industrial region of the country. Its leading industries include ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy, glass production, machine building (construction of railroad cars), and the production of electronic equipment, chemicals, and woolen articles.
a city in Belgium, at the confluence of the Meuse and Ourthe rivers; capital of Liege Province. Population, 147,300 (1971). A major transportation center, Liege is connected with Antwerp by the Albert Canal. The city is one of Belgium’s principal centers for heavy industry, its leading industries being ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy, machine building, metal-working, and coal mining (which was formerly the principal sector of the city’s economy). Chemical, rubber, and glass products, as well as clothing and crystal, are also produced. Liege, an important cultural center, is the site of a university (founded in 1817), the Academy of Arts, the Royal Conservatory of Music, the Museum of Archaeology and Decorative Arts, and the Museum of Fine Arts (with works from the Flemish, Belgian, French, and Dutch schools).
Liège developed from an episcopal residence, which was established around 720. Its significance was originally determined by its status as the main city of an ecclesiastical principality. Up until the 11th or 12th century, Liege was the largest city and most important cultural center in the medieval Netherlands. By the 14th century, after struggles against the sovereign, or prince-bishop, of the city, power was concentrated in the hands of the municipal guilds. After 1384 the guilds enjoyed total independence from the patrician class. In 1684 the prince-bishop abolished municipal self-government.
In the late 14th century coal mining was begun near Liege, which, together with the production of armaments, made the city an important industrial center in the 16th century. Taken by French troops numerous times during the wars of the 17th and 18th centuries, Liege and the rest of the ecclesiastical principality were annexed by France in 1795. In 1815 the city was made a part of the kingdom of the Netherlands, and in 1830, of Belgium. Liege was occupied by German troops from August 1914 to 1918 and from May 1940 to September 1944. An important strike, led by J. Lahaut, took place in the city on May 10, 1941. Liege was liberated by the forces of the Resistance Movement.
The oldest part of Liege is situated on the hilly northern bank of the Meuse River. It is the site of the Romanesque Church of St. Barthelemy (11th and 12th centuries), the Gothic Cathedral of St. Paul (13th to 15th centuries), and the churches of St. Croix (13th and 14th centuries) and St. Jacques (11th to 16th centuries; with Romanesque and Renaissance sections). Secular structures include the Court of Justice, which was formerly the palace of the prince-bishops (from the tenth century; 1145-64, master Hendrick van Leyen; 1526-36, architect Aert van Mulcken), the former meat markets (1545), and the classical Town Hall (1714-18).
In the 20th century a new part of Liege has been developing along the lines of the industrial regions of the southwest. Contemporary buildings include the Plaine-des-Manoeuvres housing complex (1956, architect C. Carlier) and the university and hospital complex (1970, architects S. L. Strebelle and S. Vandenhof).