Kanne (

Limburgish Limburgish ( li, Limburgs or ; nl, Limburgs ; german: Limburgisch ; french: Limbourgeois ), also called Limburgan, Limburgian, or Limburgic, is a West Germanic language spoken in the Dutch and Belgian provinces of Limburg (Netherlands), L ...

: ''Kan'') is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

in the municipality of

Riemst Riemst (; li, Riems) is a small town and a municipality in the Belgian province of Limburg. Riemst is in the Flemish speaking area of Belgium. On January 1, 2018 Riemst had a total population of 16,665. The total area is 57.88 km² which gi ...

in the southeastern part of the

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

province of

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...

. as of 2021, the village has 1,162 inhabitants of which a significant part have the Dutch nationality.

Location

Kanne is situated right on the border with the city of

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...

in the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

province of

. It is also on the border with the Walloon municipality of

Visé Visé (; nl, Wezet, ; wa, Vizé) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, located on the river Meuse in the province of Liège, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Argenteau, Cheratte, Lanaye, Lixhe, Richelle, ...

. Kanne is situated in the valley of the river

Geer Geer (; wa, Djer) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On January 1, 2006, Geer had a total population of 2,854. The total area is 23.62 km² which gives a population density of 121 inhabitants per km ...

(

: ''Jeker'') between Cannerberg (part of the

Hesbaye The Hesbaye ( French, ), or Haspengouw (Dutch and Limburgish, ) is a traditional cultural and geophysical region in eastern Belgium. It is a loamy plateau region which forms a watershed between the Meuse and Scheldt drainage basins. It has be ...

Plateau) in the west and

Mount Saint Peter Mount Saint Peter (French: ''Montagne Saint-Pierre''; Dutch: ''Sint-Pietersberg''), also referred to as Caestert Plateau, is the northern part of a plateau running north to south between the valleys of the river Geer to the west, and the Meuse t ...

(

Caestert Mount Saint Peter ( French: ''Montagne Saint-Pierre''; Dutch: ''Sint-Pietersberg''), also referred to as Caestert Plateau, is the northern part of a plateau running north to south between the valleys of the river Geer to the west, and the Meuse ...

Plateau) in the east. The village is also situated on the

Albert Canal The Albert Canal (, ) is a canal located in northeastern Belgium, which was named for King Albert I of Belgium. The Albert Canal connects Antwerp with Liège, and also the Meuse river with the Scheldt river. It also connects with the Dessel� ...

, at the western end of the canal's passage through Mount Saint Peter.

History

The name Kanne ("Cannes") was mentioned first in a document of 965. In 1079 it was referred to as ''apud Kanne''. The meaning of the name is not known. Kanne consists of two part: Opkanne ("Upper Kanne") and Neercanne ("Lower Kanne"). Opkanne belonged in 965 to the chapter of Saint Martin's church 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 ...

. In 1391 the Van den Bosch family owned Opkanne. Their castle in Opkanne, Castle Harff, stood near present-day Bovenstraat. In 1486 Gijs (Guy) van den Bosch, lord of Opkanne and a companion of

William I de La Marck William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, was murdered by an angry mob in Liège. Neercanne was always privately owned. From 1794 till 1843 the two parts of Kanne were briefly united but they were separated again as a result of the

Treaty of London (1839) The Treaty of London of 1839, was signed on 19 April 1839 between the Concert of Europe, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Belgium. It was a direct follow-up to the 1831 Treaty of the XVIII Articles, which the Nether ...

. Being situated close to Maastricht, which was besieged many times, Kanne suffered a lot of warfare. In the 1930s, along with the construction of

, an important military fortress was built near Kanne,

Fort Eben-Emael Fort Eben-Emael (french: Fort d'Ében-Émael, ) is an inactive Belgian fortress located between Liège and Maastricht, on the Belgian-Dutch border, near the Albert Canal, outside the village of Ében-Émael. It was designed to defend Belgium ...

. In May 1940, at the beginning of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, 217 Belgian soldiers died here when they tried to stop the German invaders as part of the

Battle of Belgium The invasion of Belgium or Belgian campaign (10–28 May 1940), often referred to within Belgium as the 18 Days' Campaign (french: Campagne des 18 jours, nl, Achttiendaagse Veldtocht), formed part of the greater Battle of France, an Military o ...

Sights

A major historical monument in Kanne is

Château Neercanne __NOTOC__ Château Neercanne (also known as ''Agimont'' or ''kasteel Neercanne'') is a restaurant located in Maastricht in the Netherlands. It is a fine dining restaurant that was awarded one or two Michelin stars in the periods 1957-1982 and 198 ...

, although technically it is not in Kanne but a few meters across the border in

, the Netherlands. The meaning of the name Neercanne is "lower Kanne", as it is situated lower, downstream from the river. The castle with terraced gardens was built in 1698 by Daniël Wolf baron van Dopff, at that time military governor of Maastricht. The small baroque chapel of the

Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, hy, Սուրբ Հարության տաճար, la, Ecclesia Sancti Sepulchri, am, የቅዱስ መቃብር ቤተክርስቲያን, he, כנסיית הקבר, ar, كنيسة القيامة is a church i ...

was built in 1647. The village's parish church, dedicated to

Saint Hubert Hubertus or Hubert ( 656 – 30 May 727 A.D.) was a Christian saint who became the first bishop of Liège in 708 A.D. He is the patron saint of hunters, mathematicians, opticians and metalworkers. Known as the "Apostle of the Ardennes", he w ...

, was built in 1938, but the tower dates from the 15th or 16th century. There are two historic

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of ...

s on the river Geer in Kanne. A sinister reminder of

is the fortress Eben-Emael, constructed in 1931–35 to protect the Belgian border near the Albert Canal.

Gallery

Image:Chateau neercanne.jpg,

, near Kanne Image:H._Grafkapel_Kanne_15-04-2007_13-29-38.jpg, Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre Image:Kannekèrkwkped05.JPG, Church of Saint Hubert Image:Ebenemael 002.jpg, Fortress Eben-Emael

References

{{Commons category, position=left Belgium–Netherlands border crossings Populated places in Limburg (Belgium)