NAMUR

(French), Flemish Namen capital of Namur province, south-central Belgium. It lies at the junction of the Sambre and Meuse rivers. A pre-Roman oppidum (fortified town), it was the seat of the counts of Namur from 908 until it passed to Burgundy in 1421. Namur is dominated by its medieval citadel, which sits atop a rocky promontory between the two rivers. The city has been an episcopal see since 1559. Because of its strategic position at the head of routes into France, Namur was the scene of a number of battles and sieges. Two campaignsknown as the sieges of Namurthat occurred during the War of the Grand Alliance (168997) are particularly notable. The citadel on a rock located above the town was originally the castle of the counts of Namur; it was fortified in the 15th, 16th, and 19th centuries before being abandoned in 1862. The city's newer outlying fortifications (1893) were destroyed by the Germans in World War I, and Namur sustained a considerable amount of damage in World War II. A rail junction and centre of art and tourism, Namur is also an industrial town, its industries including the manufacture of glass, paper, leather goods, steel products, and cement. Despite the wars and sieges, many architectural landmarks remain in Namur. These include the Baroque Cathedral of St. Aubain, with notable paintings and metalwork; the Jesuit Church of St. Loup, which is notable for its columns of red marble; the Convent of the Sisters of Our Lady, containing 13th-century treasures of silver and gold craftsmanship; and the Meat Hall (1588), housing the archaeological museum. Baroque (163248) horse stalls are a unique feature of the 17th-century church, Notre-Dame, which was transformed between 1770 and 1775 by the architect L.-B. Dewez. The Diocesan Museum exhibits the Carolingian shrine of Andenne and the golden crown and portable altar (1217) of the counts of Namur. A restored 11th-century bridge crosses the Meuse not far (4 miles ) from Namur and is the place where the alpinist king Albert I fell to his death in 1934. Pop. (1991) 103,443. (French), Flemish Namen province, southern Belgium. It is bounded on the north by Brabant, on the northeast by Lige, on the east by Luxembourg (province), on the south by France, and on the west by Hainaut. Namur is one of the less densely populated provinces of Belgium. It is divided into three administrative arrondissements (Namur, Dinant, and Philippeville), with the capital at Namur. French is the principal language of the entire province. The medieval county of Namur was much smaller than the modern province, since much of the eastern part of the province formerly belonged to the prince-bishops of Lige. Ceded to Hainaut in 1188 and temporarily raised to a marquisate in 1199, Namur passed to Flanders in 1263. It was sold to Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, in 1421, and its history then merged with that of the Burgundian Netherlands. Namur is drained by the Meuse, Sambre, and Lesse rivers. The Meuse River flows from eastern France northward across the centre of the province to join with the Sambre River at the city of Namur. The province may be divided into a number of geographic regions. The rich alluvial soils of the plateau of Brabant in the north support wheat, sugar beets, fodder crops, and orchards. The mild climate and calcareous loams, clays, and alluvial soils of the Sambre and Meuse valleys in the central part of the province are well farmed and support mixed agriculture and dairying. The rock plateau of Condroz in the east has sandstone ridges and limestone valleys and is similar to Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse in the southwest. The ridges of both these areas are wooded, and their valley clays support wheat, winter barley, rye, potatoes, fodder, flax, dairying, cattle raising, and horse breeding. The Famenne depression south of these plateaus has much woodland and pasture; in places the limestone bedrock has given rise to underground streams, striking rock formations, and grottoes, such as the Han grottoes in the Lesse valley and the caverns near Rochefort on the Lomme River. The rocky Ardennes region farther south has only peat moors, bogs, patches of coniferous plantation, and limited pasture for beef cattle. The Sambre and Meuse valleys are part of the industrial crescent of southern Belgium. Although the small Namur coal basin has been exhausted, steel-related industries, metallurgical and chemical works, and glassworks still thrive in Namur city. Sugar refining and the manufacturing of agricultural machinery are industries in the north, while a growing resort industry prevails in the south along the Meuse and its tributaries. Limestone, granite, marble, and sandstone are quarried from the Condroz. The province is served by several rail lines, and the Meuse and Sambre have both been canalized for freight transport. Population centres are Namur and Dinant (qq.v.) on the Meuse, Ciney on the Condroz plateau, Philippeville in Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse, and Gembloux on the northern plateau. Unusual rock formations along the rivers and medieval chteaus and abbeys throughout the province attract tourists. The Natural Reserve of Champale and Poilvache includes some of these formations and the ruins of the feudal chteau of Poilvache. Area 1,416 square miles (3,666 square km). Pop. (1991) 423,317.