Liège is a major Walloon city and municipality in Belgium located in the province of Liège, of which it is the administrative capital. Road-signs in Flanders (Dutch-speaking North Belgium) use "Luik" for "Liège".
The city is situated in the valley of the river Meuse ("Maas" in Flemish), near Belgium's eastern borders with the Netherlands and Germany, where the Meuse meets the Ourthe. It is in the former sillon industriel, the industrial backbone of Wallonia. The Liège municipality includes the former communes of Angleur, Bressoux, Chênée, Glain, Grivegnée, Jupille-sur-Meuse, Rocourt, and Wandre.
The city is the principal economic and cultural centre of Wallonia. Liège is, with 190,102 inhabitants as of 1 January 2008, the second most populous city in Wallonia after Charleroi. The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of 1,879 km² and has a total population of 749,110 as of 1 January 2008. This includes a total of 52 municipalities, a.o. Herstal and Seraing, and ranks as the third most populous in Belgium, after Brussels and Antwerp. |
