About 7km/4.5mi northeast of Verviers is the little town of Limbourg built on a hill. It was situated on the route between Bruges and Cologne and until the Battle of Worringen in 1268 was the chief town of the former Duchy of Limbourg but then it fell to Brabant. Because of its strategic importance it was subsequently fortified but suffered
several sieges, especially heavy ones by Louis XIV and in 1703 by the Duke of Marlborough who destroyed the ducal castle which had been built about 1000 in the upper town.
The circular path along the old town walls leads around the upper town and offers fine views. Of interest is the Gothic Eglise Saint-Georges, of which the predecessor was the 12th C. castle chapel, and this in turn was built above a Romanesque crypt. The church received its present form in the 14th and 15th C.