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, located in the province of Hainaut,

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 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. In 1976 Luttre was united with Pont-à-Celles, 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