Liège (Ger. Lüttich, Flemish Luik), a city of Belgium, occupies a picturesque site at the confluence of the Ourthe with the Meuse, by rail 62 miles S. by E. of Brussels and 47 SW. of Aix-la-Chapelle in Germany. It consists of the old town, built on the hills that overlook the Meuse on the left, the new town, down below on the right bank, and several suburbs. Notwithstanding its great manufacturing industry, it is a beautiful city, with elegant bridges, handsome squares and gardens, and fine churches and private houses. Its defences consist of a ring of modern forts and the old citadel, built in 1650, on the high ground on the left bank of the Meuse. The cathedral church was originally St Lambert's, founded in 712, destroyed by the French republicans in 1794, and wholly removed in 1802. Since that date St Paul's, founded in 968 and completed about 1528, with a good carved pulpit by Geefs, has been the church of the see. Amongst the remaining churches are two (St Denis and Holy Cross) which date from the 10th century, and three (St James', 1016-1528; St Bartholomew's, 11th and 12th centuries, with a beautiful brass font of 1112; and St Martin's, 16th century) with some architectural pretensions. The most notable amongst the secular buildings are the former bishop's palace, built in the Late Gothic style in 1508-40, and now converted into law-courts and administrative offices, and the university. This last was founded in 1817, and has about 70 teachers and 1210 students. The usual adjuncts are attached, including a museum with valuable cave remains, a library of 110,000 vols., a school of mining, and a polytechnic school. Situated in the centre of the east Belgian coal-mining district, Liège is one of the first manufacturing cities in Belgium. Its great staple is the making of firearms, of which it turns out annually (an average of nearly 900,000) more than twice the number of Birmingham and St Etienne together. But manufactories of wool, leather, and iron-plates, together with, in a secondary degree, iron and other metal works, breweries, and distilleries, give employment to large numbers of men. The government have here a cannon-foundry and a small-arms factory. At Seraing (q.v.), 3 miles distant, are the manufacturing establishments founded by the Englishman Cockerill (q.v.). Pop. (1876) 115,851; (1894) 160,848, mostly Walloons. The Bishop of Maestricht transferred the see to Liège in 720; his successors afterwards attained to the dignity of princes of the empire and bore the title of Duke of Bouillon. The history of Liège is a long struggle between the bishop-princes and the liberty-loving burghers of the city. The latter rose in open revolt in 1407 and 1464, and on subsequent occasions; and it frequently happened that a new bishop could only gain entry into the city when he came with a foreign army at his back, as in 1648 and 1684. The city was seized by Charles the Bold of Burgundy in 1467; but he had to do his work over again, and did it with ruthless severity, in the following year. Liège was again conquered in 1691 by the French, in 1702 by Marlborough, and once more by the French in 1792. The Congress of Vienna assigned the city and the episcopal territories to the Netherlands; but in 1831 they were incorporated in the new kingdom of Belgium. See Histories by Gerlache (3d ed. 1875); Héniaux (3d ed. 1876); and Hock (1885); and compare Scott's Quentin Durward.
The province of Liège, with an area of 1117 sq. m. and a pop. (1888) of 738,694, lies between the Belgian provinces of Limburg on the north and Luxemburg on the south. In industry it ranks second among the provinces of Belgium, with one-fifth of the total output of the kingdom. Amongst the industries must be mentioned the woollen, iron, coal, steel, zinc, lead, silver, cotton, cloth, machinery, firearms, straw-hats, &c. Cheese (Limburg) and butter are the most valuable of the agricultural products. Very large numbers of pigeons are reared every year as messenger birds—in 1886 nearly a million.