수마뉴 최고의 워킹 & 하이킹 경로

멜렌 교회

진정한 벨기에 분위기를 느낄 수 있는 매우 소박한 마을

Warning: The ascent to Blegny via the trail is very difficult. January 2026: Trail collapse. Poorly maintained. Passage is only possible for adults as the trail has completely collapsed in one section.

The 'Église Sainte-Gertrude' was marked by the world wars. But people were also killed at the church at the beginning of the First World War. On the left side of the church, you can see a memorial in the outer wall commemorating the murder of, among others, the mayor and priest, who were executed against this wall on August 16, 1914. The victims: Father Labeye, Mayor André Ruwet, and Messrs. Gaspard and Léopold Hackin. Incidentally, the Germans left a trail of similar atrocities in this region, extending to Liège at the outbreak of WWI. Ironically, the notes of the murdered Father Labeye are important witnesses to the days leading up to his own death. Read them here: www.saive.be/saive_old/s_histoire_blegny.htm

If you can get inside, take a look at the stained-glass windows from 1967, created by Louis Jaquemart. This glassworker, who died in 1972, also worked in the churches of Emael, Cerexhe, Theux, and Mangombroux. His website: http://louis.jacquemart.free.fr/ The stained-glass windows he created for the Église Sainte-Gertrude are classified. Themes, overview, and detailed photos can be found at http://louis.jacquemart.free.fr/blegny/index.html

The St. Gertrude's Church as you see it today is, with a few exceptions, very young: it was only consecrated in 1965. But this version, built in the Neo-Gothic style between 1952 and 1961, was only built after the previous one, dating from 1920, was almost completely destroyed in 1940. And the 1920 version, in turn, was built because the 1897 one, also Neo-Gothic, was set on fire in 1914. A few centuries before the destructive impact of both world wars, there was a chapel here in the sixteenth century. It belonged to the very old parish of neighboring Mortier, a submunicipality of Blégny, which, as a seigneury, came into the possession of the Chapter of Our Lady in Aachen as early as the tenth century. The chapel that stood here and was subordinate to the church of Mortier was rebuilt in 1712 and only afterwards was the first neo-Gothic one built, which was destroyed in 1914.

Old wishing and healing tree.

with local stones, an essential charm for lovers of local gems