Liège Fair (in French ''Foire de Liège'' or ''foire d'octobre'', "October Fair"), founded in 1594, is the oldest Belgian ''
kermesse'' still celebrated today. It originally started in November but since 1871 has started in October. It is also the largest funfair in
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
in terms of the number of stallholders taking part, with more than 170 rides and food facilities. The total length of all the stalls is about two kilometres.
In the 21at century, its number of visitors has exceeded 1.5 million annually.
History
Although the first texts mentioning the existence of a fair in
Liège
Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège.
The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...
, indicating the details of the organisation and listing the entertainments, only date back to the 14th century, its existence probably goes back to the origins of the city, in other words in the 8th century.
In 1350, under the episcopacy of prince-bishop
Engelbert de La Marck, the
Chapter of
Saint Lambert's Cathedral, Liège
St. Lambert's Cathedral, Liège (or in full, the Cathedral of Our Lady and St. Lambert; french: Cathédrale Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Lambert) was the cathedral of Liège, Belgium, until 1794, when its destruction began. This enormous Gothic cat ...
and the city magistrates decided to bring together the two existing fairs in a single fair located in at the place called "En Gravioule" which was then outside the city. This fair was dedicated to
St Lambert
Lambert of Maastricht, commonly referred to as Saint Lambert ( la, Lambertus; Middle Dutch: ''Sint-Lambrecht''; li, Lambaer, Baer, Bert(us); 636 – c. 705 AD) was the bishop of Maastricht-Liège (Tongeren) from about 670 until his death. Lam ...
and lasted a week starting from 17 September.
In 1594, Prince-Bishop
Ernest of Bavaria
Ernest of Bavaria (german: Ernst von Bayern) (17 December 1554 – 17 February 1612) was Prince-elector-archbishop of the Archbishopric of Cologne from 1583 to 1612 as successor of the expelled Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg. He was also bishop ...
founded a new annual fair, lasting for two weeks from 28 October, in honour of
St Simon and
St Jude
Jude ( grc-gre, Ἰούδας Ἰακώβου translit. Ioúdas Iakóbou) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is generally identified as Thaddeus ( grc-gre, Θαδδαῖος; cop, ⲑⲁⲇⲇⲉⲟⲥ; ...
. The fair took place on La Batte.
In 1663, Prince-Bishop
Maximilian Henry of Bavaria
Maximilian Henry of Bavaria (german: Maximilian Heinrich von Bayern: 8 October 1621 – 3 June 1688) was the third son and fourth child of Albert VI, landgrave of Leuchtenberg and his wife, Mechthilde von Leuchtenberg. In 1650, he was named Ar ...
transferred the river port's weekly horse market from the Place aux chevaux (now Place de la république française) to La Batte. From 1687, the fair of Saint Simon and Saint Jude supplanted all other fairs. It would take place each year at the same time and the same place for nearly two centuries.
In 1854, following the construction of the quays on the Meuse, especially including the reconstruction of the Pont des Arches, the fair was forced to move from La Batte to the new boulevard d'Avroy, created in 1835. What was to have been a temporary location, proved to be the definitive location.
[André Lebrun, Yves Moreau, Guido Convents et al., ''Foires et forains en Wallonie : magie foraine d'autrefois'', Liège, Éditions Mardaga, 1989, pp. 60-62.]
References
{{Reflist
Fairs in Belgium
Culture in Liège