Tongeren

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Tongeren
Tongeren wapen.svg Tongeren vlag.svg
Tongeren (Limburg)
Tongeren
Tongeren
State : BelgiumBelgium Belgium
Region : Flanders
Province : Limburg
District : Tongeren
Coordinates : 50 ° 47 '  N , 5 ° 28'  E Coordinates: 50 ° 47 '  N , 5 ° 28'  E
Area : 87.56 km²
Residents: 30,996 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density: 354 inhabitants per km²
Post Code: 3700
Prefix: 012
Mayor: Patrick Dewael ( Open VLD )

Local government address : 		Administratief Centrum Praetorium
Maastrichterstraat 10
3700 Tongeren
Website: www.tongeren.be

Tongeren ( Limburgish : Tóngere , French : Tongres , Dutch : Tongeren ) is the oldest town in Belgium (founded around 15 BC..), Emerged from the Roman settlement Aduatuca Tungrorum that on the Roman road from Cologne to Bavay was, now Via Belgica is called and continued to Boulogne-sur-Mer .

geography

Tongeren is located in the south of the Belgian province of Limburg , about 15 km north of Liège , 15 km west of Maastricht and about 20 km south of Hasselt .

history

Monument to Ambiorix

The ancient Aduatuca Tungrorum is probably not identical with the fortified place Aduatuca , where Quintus Titurius Sabinus , a general of Caesar , 54 BC. BC suffered a severe defeat against the Eburones led by Ambiorix and fell. During the reign of Emperor Augustus , around 15 BC In the area of ​​today's Tongeren a Roman military camp and soon afterwards a civil settlement. Aduatuca Tungrorum became the capital of the Tungerer and the Roman Civitas Tungrorum . The military camp was abandoned towards the end of Augustus' reign, but the place remained an important trading center. During the revolt of Iulius Civilis in 69/70 AD, Aduatuca Tungrorum appears to have been destroyed, but was soon rebuilt. It developed into an important road junction and the most important place in the province of Germania inferior after Cologne . Trajan or Hadrian had it surrounded by a wall about 4.5 km in circumference. At around 275 Franks looted the city. After they were driven out, the Romans put on a new, but much smaller, surrounding wall. The city now came to the province of Germania secunda . In 451 it was destroyed by the Huns during the Attila's invasion . In any case, the Roman period in Tongeren ended shortly after this point in time. Remains of the city wall built in the 2nd century, as well as houses, a sanctuary and an aqueduct as well as many graves have been preserved.

The city had been the seat of a bishop since the beginning of the 4th century , who moved to Maastricht around 595 and to Liège in 718/19 . In 881 Tongeren was sacked by the Normans . The largely destroyed city was rebuilt in the 10th century, came to the Bishop Notger of Liège and belonged to the Principality of Liège until the end of the Ancien Régime . In 1401 and 1553 plague epidemics raged here . In 1677 Tongeren was burned down by the troops of Louis XIV .

Districts

Attractions

Roman wall
Basilica of Our Lady in Tongeren

Museums

Buildings

  • First Roman wall , built in the 2nd century AD, of its original length of 4,544 m, around 1,500 m are still preserved.
  • Second Roman wall , built in the 4th century AD to defend against the Franks , enclosed a much smaller area than the first. No unearthly remains of this wall have survived.
  • Medieval wall: the wall that surrounds the center of Tongeren and dates from 1257–1264. It was built on Roman foundations and is still preserved today
  • Still image of Ambiorix : The most famous monument in Tongeren shows the Belgian national hero Ambiorix.
  • Begijnhof : from the 13th century
  • Moerenpoort: Arms Museum, is located in the historic city gate
  • Onze Lieve Vrouw Basilica ( Basilica of Our Lady), built in its current form in the years 1240–1541, Gothic.
  • Pliny Fountain

Regular events

  • Flea market: Every Sunday from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. there is a nationally popular flea market in Tongeren. There, antique items of all kinds are mainly offered by professional dealers.
  • Onze Lieve Vrouw Basilica - Procession: Every seven years there is a large procession with the image of Our Lady, which is considered to be miraculous. The last year of procession was 2009.

traffic

Tongeren is on the Liège - Hasselt - Antwerp railway line and on the Monzen route from Aachen West. The latter route is used exclusively for freight traffic.

Town twinning

Personalities

Sons and daughters

People with a relationship to the city

  • Patrick Dewael (* 1955), Belgian politician ( VLD ), former Interior Minister and Vice Prime Minister

gallery

  • In downtown Tongeren

  • City gate, so-called "Moerenpoort"

  • Market in front of the basilica

  • High altar in the basilica

  • Marien Altar in the basilica

  • Organ in the basilica

  • Man of Sorrows in the basilica

literature

  • Belgium . Verlag Karl Baedeker Ostfildern, 3rd edition 1998, pp. 363–367 ISBN 3-87504-417-7
  • Alain Vanderhoeven: The Roman city of Tongeren. In: Raban von Haehling , Andreas Schaub (Hrsg.): Römisches Aachen. Archaeological-historical aspects of Aachen and the Euregio. Schnell and Steiner Verlag, Regensburg 2013. ISBN 978-3-7954-2598-2 , pp. 387-411.

Web links

Commons : Tongeren  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Tongeren in the Topographia Westphaliae (Mathäus Merian)  - sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sigfried Jan de Laet:  Atuatuca Tungrorum . In: Richard Stillwell et al. a. (Ed.): The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1976, ISBN 0-691-03542-3 .
  2. ↑ Michael Erbe : Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg , Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-17-010976-6 , p. 33.
  3. ↑ Michael Erbe: Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg , p. 34.
  4. ↑ Tongres . In: La grande encyclopédie , vol. 31, p. 160.
  5. ^ Archeology in Germany, issue 4/2011, p. 71