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![[Flag]](../images/b/be-wlgfl.gif)
Flag of Flémalle - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 5 May 2005
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The municipality of Flémalle (25,021 inhabitants on 1 January 2007; 3,668 ha; municipal website) located on both sides of the river Meuse, southwest (upstream) of Liège. The municipality of Flémalle was formed in 1976 by the merging of the former municipalities of Awirs (2,869 inh.), Cahottes (1,277 inh.), Flémalle-Grande (5,527 inh.), Flémalle-Haute (administrative seat of the municipality; 6,615 inh.), Ivoz-Ramet (5,484 inh.) and Mons-lez-Liège (3,431 inh.).
Flémalle-Haute (Upper-Flémalle) is nicknamed La Petite Flémal' (The Little Flémalle) as opposed to Flémalle-Grande (The Great
Flémalle). Before the 16th century, the village was owned by the
Chapter of the St. Peter Collegiate Church in Liége. A castle was
built in the 17th century, which is today the seat of the municipal
administration of Flémalle.
The village is dominated by the "red lands", which are rubble of the
industrial calcination of alumiferous schists required to produce alum
(16th-19th centuries). One century ago, coniferous trees were planted
on the red lands, which give an odd southern touch to the village.
Flémalle-Grande was given several names in the past, the most
significant of them being Fledismamalacha, meaning "a flow of powerful water".
There was in the past in the town a spring delivering a water similar
to the famous Spa water.
In year 188, a Roman century settled in the site where the village of
Flémalle would develop later. Until the end of the 12th century, the
village was shared among several lords. In 1173, the Hospitalers
Knights of Jerusalem were granted some of these domains and built an
hospital, which was partially destroyed during the Wars of Religion in
the 15th century. The hospital was later replaced by a castle,
eventually suppressed in 1956.
The fort of Flémalle-Grande was built by Brialmont in 1888 to watch the
Meuse and the access to Namur. The fort defenders surrender to the Germans on 16 August 1914, one day after the tragic seizure of the fort
of Loncin in Ans. The fort is today a museum.
Awirs was known in the 11th century as Auguria and, one century later,
as Aquiria. Both names refer to water (in Latin, aqua). There were in
the past 14 wartermills in the village; the oldest of them was known as
Huwes' mills, after his builder Hugues of Awirs, the first lord of Aigremont.
The castle of Aigremont is located halfway between Liège and Huy. A legend says that the castle was built by the Four Aymon Sons. The chanson de geste Les Quatre Fils Aymon, aka Renaud de Montauban, written at
the end of the 12th century, tells the tale of four vassals of
Charlemagne who revolted against the Emperor. The central chapters of
the very complicated story take place in the Ardenne forest, where the Aymons
fight a knight named Beuve d'Aigremont; the chanson was very famous and
some of his characters such as the magician Maugis and the horse Bayard
were very popular in the Middle-Ages. Anyway, the castle of Awirs was a
big fortress that depended on the Church of Liège. In 1715, Mathias de
Clerck, a Canon from the St. Lambert's Collegiate Church, bought the
domain of Awirs and built the modern castle of Aigremont in Renaissance
style; the castle is decorated with Italian-like wall paintings and has
a formal garden.
Philippe-Charles Schmerling, practitioner and Professor at the
University of Liège, founder of human paleontology, discovered in Awirs
remains of an archaic man. He was not believed until the findings of
the remains of the Man of Neanderthal and of the Man of Spy (now in
Jemeppe-sur-Sambre), but his scientifical books strongly influenced
Charles Darwin.
Chokier, today a borough of Awirs, is mentioned as Calcaria in a charter
dated 1086. This name is probably related to a lime oven. It was then a
wealthy village with wine-growers, a brewer, a tank maker, a blacksmith
and inns. The castle of Chokier was built on a rocky spur dominating
the Meuse. It was besieged several times, to no avail, until the 14th
century, when the inhabitants of Huy seized it and plundered it. The
modern castle built on the site of the feudal fortress is still there.
Cahottes was a hamlet depending on Horion-Hozémont until 1976 (when the rest of Horion-Hozémont was incorporated to Grâce-Hollogne). The village has a nature reserve settled by several species of birds. The parish of Cahottes separated from Hozémont in 1846.
Ivoz-Ramet is made of the three feudal domaines of Ivoz, Ramet and Remioul. Ivoz intially belonged to the St. Lambert cathedral, which sold it in 1261 to the Val-Saint-Lambert abbey. Ramet belonged to the Chapter of the St. Paul Collegiate Church. Remioul was a free domain, which belonged in the 11th century to Godefroid de Bouillon. The domain of la Châtaigneraie in Ivoz shows 93 works by the Belgian sculptor Marceau Gillard (1904-1987). Born in France, Gillard spent most of his life in Flémalle; he was Professor at the Royal Academy of Arts from 1949 to 1970.
Mons-lez-Liège developed around a castle, which was burnt to ashes in 1318, revamped and damaged again in 1568, revamped again and totally destroyed in 1637. The castle was rebuilt from scratch in 1659 and lost a wing in 1934. Remains of Roman tiles and bricks were found near the church, which might indicated that a Roman villa existed there.
The most famous citizen of Flémalle is the 15th century painter known
as the Master of Flémalle, named after three paintings of the
Städelsches Kunstinstitut in Frankfurt that were supposed to have come
from Flémalle. Unfortunately, there is today a strong consensus of
scholarly opinion that he is to be identified with Robert Campin
(active 1406-44), who was the leading painter of his day in Tournai, but none of whose documented pictures survive. The most famous work
associated with the Master of Flémalle is the Merode Altarpiece
(Metropolitan Museum, New York), and he is indeed sometimes referred to
as the Master of Merode. However, the attribution of this painting has
also been questioned. Among the other works generally accepted as his
are The Marriage of the Virgin (Prado, Madrid), The Nativity (Musée des
Beaux-Arts, Dijon), and The Virgin and Child before a Firescreen
(National Gallery, London).
[Webmuseum]
Ivan Sache, 5 May 2005
The flag of Flémalle is red, divided by a white ascending wavy diagonal, with a yellow pickaxe in canton and six yellow discs placed 3+2+1 in lower fly.
According to Armoiries communales en Belgique. Communes wallonnes, bruxelloises et germanophones [w2v03], the flag, adopted on 18 June 1991 by the Municipal Council, is prescribed by a Decree issued on 18 December 1991 by the Executive of the French Community.
The flag is a banner of the municipal arms. The wavy stripe represents
river Meuse, the alum miner's peakaxe recalls the industrial past of
the town, and the six discs form a grape recalling the ancient
vineyards, as well as the six former municipalities constituting
Flémalle.
Arnaud Leroy, Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 5 May 2005
