Trésor

Liège


Off the closed-in cloister of Cathédrale St-Paul, the slickly presented three-level Trésor guards many artworks, vestments and chalices rescued from St-Lambert’s Cathedral in 1793.

These items include the jewel-studded gold-and-silver reliquary of St-Lambert in the form of a life-sized bust. It supposedly contains Lambert’s skull, though enough other fragments of his noggin exist in other reliquaries to suggest that the saint was at least six-headed. Even more celebrated is another reliquary that features doll-like statuettes of Charles V and St George and uses 5kg of gold. Visits include audio guides (available in four languages) to give historical context about the prince-bishopric of Liège.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Liège attractions

1. Cathédrale St-Paul

0.04 MILES

Cathédrale St-Paul's highlights include a big 19th-century painting depicting the legend of St-Lambert's assassination, and the saint's ornate silver…

2. Église St-Jacques

0.22 MILES

Arguably Liège's most fascinating church, this architectural hotchpotch was founded in 1015 and retains a heavily patched-up 1170 west end whose…

3. Institut Zoologique

0.31 MILES

Built in 1888, this palatial building has a deep-eyed bust of Darwin on its central pediment, best spotted from the river-ferry as it approaches the Pôle…

4. Tchantchès Pilot Sculpture

0.34 MILES

Beside the St-Lambert bus stops is this cartoonesque figure piloting a little metal aeroplane: Liège’s mascot and oldest ‘citizen’, the big-nosed wooden…

5. Archéoforum

0.38 MILES

Once one of the greatest churches in northern Europe, St-Lambert’s Cathedral was demolished from 1793 in the aftermath of the Révolution Liégeoise, very…

6. Hôtel de Ville

0.42 MILES

At night the 1719 city hall glows lugubriously in its blood-red spotlights. By day it commands Liège’s charming, if modestly sized, original main square,…

7. Former Palace of the Prince-Bishops

0.42 MILES

Behind an Italian Renaissance facade, this former palace is reputedly one of the largest secular Gothic buildings anywhere in the world. Prior to 1789 it…

8. Outremeuse

0.47 MILES

Across the River Meuse from the city centre is the gritty urban island of Outremeuse, whose working-class residents consider it a ‘Free Republic’. Their…