Tweet31-12-2010 om 15:37 by Sueli Brodin

We took advantage of the winter holiday to visit the Grand Curtius Museum in Liège. The Grand Curtius Museum opened its doors in March 2009 and regroups four previous museums: The Arms Museum, the Glass Museum, the Museum of Archeology and Decorative Arts and the Museum of Religious and Mosan Art.





The museum is composed of four buildings, the oldest one of which is the magnificent 17th century mansion of Jean de Corte, a wealthy patrician and arms supplier to the Spanish army. The former Curtius Palace can easily be spotted on the banks of the Meuse river thanks to its bright red brickwork and small barred windows, typical of the Meuse Renaissance style.



Good news: Entrance is free for children under 12 and the explanatory panels are provided in four languages: French, English, German and Dutch.



The visit starts with the Archeological section, which displays ancient artefacts of human settlements in the Liège area.



It showcases a beautiful local treasure find, which captured the imagination of my children, who then spent a long time looking at old Roman coins bearing the profiles of Roman emperors.





The city of Liège has a very rich and glorious history.  For eight centuries – between  985 and 1794 - it was the capital of a Prince Bishopric and an important ecclesiastical and intellectual centre. It even came to be known as the “Athens of the North” in the 11th century, thanks to the brilliant scholars who were formed there.

A scale model of the former St Lambert’s Cathedral, which was destroyed in 1794 under the French rule and in the aftermath of the Révolution Liégeoise, shows what an extraordinary religious complex it used to be.



The Gospel book of Bishop Notker, the first Prince Bishop of Liège, is a beautiful example of Mosan religious art. It continued to be adorned with successive elements, such as ivory and enamel, over a long period of time.



The Middle Age section of the museum houses an extensive and very fine collection of wood carved figures.



I was mostly taken by the magnificent works on display by the Baroque sculptor Jean Del Cour, a native of Liège who after studying in Rome under Gian Lorenzo Bernini, opened his own sculpture workshop in his home city.



For those who think that museums are boring, think twice!

A large painting hanging in a small room named “Virtuous women” shows the Biblical scene of Yael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, who saved Israel from the troops of the Canaanite King Jabin by hammering a tent peg into the temple of the sleeping general Sisera.



Two fascinating paintings are devoted to the subject of the miraculous Lactation of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, in which the breastfeeding Virgin Mary proves that she is a mother by squiring milk directly into the Saint’s lips.



The 18th century Hôtel de Hayme de Bomal, with its beautifully decorated high ceilings and sumptuous rooms, also forms part of the museum complex.





Napoleon Bonaparte stayed at the Hôtel during his two official visits to Liège in 1803 and 1811 and offered the city a portrait of himself as First Consul by Dominic Ingres.





Our visit ended with the museum’s glass and weapons collections, described as ones of the most extensive and prestigious in Europe and in the world.



They highlighted the role played by the city of Liège as an age-long centre for glassmaking and the manufacturing of weapons.



I can’t recall ever seeing such a striking display of gunpowder containers, in all shapes and colours and motives..





... nor such unusual types of guns that reminded me of spy and detective films.



We spent almost three hours walking through the museum and admiring its vast spaces and various architecture styles.





To my children’s delight, there were plenty of surprising corners and corridors to be discovered..





And to my own delight, unexpectedly great spots for photo shoots as well.



All in all, the Grand Curtius Museum, with its rich and varied historical collections and beautiful premises, provided something for everyone’s taste and we all went back home with the pleasant feeling of an afternoon well spent.

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