Liberchies ( wa, Luberciye) is a village of

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...

and a district of the municipality of

Pont-à-Celles Pont-à-Celles (; wa, Pont-a-Cele) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. On January 1, 2018, Pont-à-Celles had a total population of 17,287. The total area is 55.73 km2 which gives a population density ...

, located in the

province of Hainaut Hainaut (, also , , ; nl, Henegouwen ; wa, Hinnot; pcd, Hénau), historically also known as Heynowes in English, is a province of Wallonia and Belgium. To its south lies the French department of Nord, while within Belgium it borders (clock ...

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 ...

. It is situated along the previous

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

highway

Bavay Bavay () is a commune in the Nord department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. The town was the seat of the former canton of Bavay. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Bavaisiens'' or ''Bavaisiennes'' Geography Bava ...

Tongeren Tongeren (; french: Tongres ; german: Tongern ; li, Tóngere ) is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg, in the southeastern corner of the Flemish region of Belgium. Tongeren is the oldest town in Belgium, as the onl ...

where a

vicus In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (plural ) designated a village within a rural area () or the neighbourhood of a larger settlement. During the Republican era, the four of the city of Rome were subdivided into . In the 1st century BC, Augustus ...

was discovered. Geminiacum is the name of the vicus (Roman village) that developed along the Roman highway next to the center of today's Liberchies. This village was created in 30 BC and was occupied until the end of the 3rd century. Being created as a relay for the Roman troops, it developed as a small town with a cultural life and economic activities. In 1970, 368 golden Roman coins were discovered on the site of former Geminiacum. Liberchies was an independent municipality until 1964 when it was united with

Luttre Luttre (; wa, Lute) is a village of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Pont-à-Celles, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium, about 15 km north of Charleroi and 50 km south of Brussels along the Charleroi-Brussels ...

. In 1976

was united with

, of which Liberchies forms a district. Every year in May a Django Reinhardt Jazz Festival takes place in Liberchies,

Django Reinhardt Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani nickname Django ( or ), was a Romani-French jazz guitarist and composer. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe and has been hailed as one of its most ...

's birth village.

References

External links

Django Reinhardt Jazz FestivalPays de Geminiacum
Former municipalities of Hainaut (province) {{Hainaut-geo-stub