Liège - Outre-Meuse

The Pont des Arches links the Old Town with the district of Outre-Meuse lying between the Meuse and a canal of the Ourthe. It is the most colorful and extrovert quarter of the city where in 1927 the not entirely serious République Outre-Meuse and the Commune de Saint-Pholien proclaimed themselves "free states", thereby keeping the custom alive. Pure dialect is still spoken here and this is the home of "Tchantchès" (Walloon for François), the symbolic figure of the population of Liège, allegedly born in 760, adviser to Charlemagne and companion of Roland, who first appeared as a marionette in 1836 together with "Polichinelle" and "Guignol" in the puppet theater. A monument to him was placed at the Place d'Yser in 1936.