Fort de la Chartreuse

En un regard

Le château en bref

The Fort de la Chartreuse overlooks the right bank of the Meuse, in Liège (Grivegnée), on the hilltop where a Carthusian monastery once stood. It was built by the Dutch from 1817, the works being completed in 1823, as part of the defensive system facing France, which also included Huy and the Citadel of Liège. After the Revolution of 1830, Belgium used it as a barracks; the German occupier used it as a prison during both World Wars, and the American army set up a military hospital there in 1944. The army left the site in the 1980s. A masonry structure, the fort was supported by ramparts, a glacis and redans, now largely overgrown with vegetation. It is listed as a monument, and the surrounding site is the subject of a classification order dating from 1989; outside the fort, the war memorial of the 1st Line Regiment has been listed since 1988. Today, the fortified part is decommissioned and in an advanced state of dilapidation: the City of Liège banned access to it in August 2024 for safety reasons and seeks to control its future through a redevelopment project, while the neighbouring park, covering some twenty hectares, remains a very popular green space offering a view over the city.