NAMUR, a province of Belgium, is bounded on the N. by South Brabant, on the E. by Liège and Luxemburg, on the S. by France, and on the W. by Hainault, having a maximum length from north to south of 55 miles; its greatest breadth is 45 miles, and the area 1413 square miles. The surface is much varied by hill and dale, being traversed by the forest of Ardennes, which here attains a height of about 2100 feet; in some parts, especially in the valley of the Meuse between Dinant and Liège, the scenery is beautiful and romantic. The principal rivers are the Meuse and its tributary the Sambre, which joins it at Namur. Geologically the province belongs to the Carboniferous system; the iron mines are very rich, and along with the coal-pits employ a considerable proportion of the industry of the province. Lead mines are also worked to some extent; and building-stone, slate, and excellent marble are quarried. The soil in the arrondissement of Namur is a rich marl, fertile and well-cultivated; about one-third of the entire province is occupied by wood, and in the arrondissement of Dinant there are considerable stretches of heath. The climate is, generally speaking, moist and cold. Wheat, rye, oats, barley, hemp, flax, and hops are the principal crops raised, but the vine is also grown. As regards live stock, sheep are preferred to horned cattle; large numbers of horses, strong and of a good breed, are also reared. The special manufacture of Namur is cutlery, for which the province is famed. Among the other industries may be mentioned porcelain and glassmaking, paper-making, cotton-spinning, and tanning. At the census of 1876 the population was 315,796. There are three arrondissements,—Dinant, Namur, and Philippeville....
Namur (Flem., Al·mcn), capital of the above province, is picturesquely situated on both banks of the Sambre, at the point of its junction with the Meuse, 35 miles southeast from Brussels. The rivers are crossed by several stone bridges. The streets are broad and clean, and there are two or three good squares. There are almost no buildings of any considerable antiquity now standing, if the 11th-century belfry and the palace of justice, dating from 1464 as the monastery of St Albinus, be excepted. The cathedral church of St Aubain or St Albin is a modern building (1751-72) in the Renaissance style, adorned in front with several statues in white marble. The interior has statues by Delvaux and Parmentier, a fine carved oak pulpit by Geerts, and the tomb of Don John of Austria, who died at his camp at Bouges, about a mile to the north-east of the town, in 1578. The church of St Loup is also a fine building, richly adorned in the interior with marble and stone carving. Besides several other churches, the town has a town-hall, a theatre, a seminary, a picture gallery, library, and archaeological museum, various charitable institutions, barracks, &c. The manufactures are considerable, cutlery being the specialty. Tanning is also extensively carried on, and a great number of the inhabitants are employed in the mines and quarries of the neighbourhood. The situation of Namur gives it great advantages as a centre for trade. The population in 1875 was 27,068.
In Caesar’s time Namur was the capital of the Aduatuci, who, he tells us (B. G., ii. 29), after his defeat of the Nervii, leaving all their other strongholds betook themselves to this one town “egregie natura munitum.” Defended by walls of considerable thickness, by well-constructed outworks on both sides of the rivers, and by the citadel on a rocky eminence at their junction, it was long a place of great strength in modern times also. It was taken by Louis XIV. in 1692, an event which was recorded by Racine and celebrated in verse by Boileau, but it was recovered in 1695 by the British and Dutch under William III., after a siege of ten months. The fortifications were destroyed in 1784 by Joseph II. of Austria, restored and strengthened in 1817 under the inspection of Wellington, and finally razed in 1866.
[697 words — estimated reading time: 4 minutes]