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Anthisnes (Municipality, Province of Liège, Belgium)

Last modified: 2007-10-20 by ivan sache
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[Flag of Anthisnes]

Municipal flag of Anthisnes - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 24 March 2005


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Presentation of Anthisnes

The municipality of Anthisnes (4,011 inhabitants on 1 January 2007; 3,707 ha) is located in the region of Condroz, south of Liège. The municipality of Anthisnes is made since 1976 of the former municipalities of Anthisnes, Hody, Tavier and Villers-aux-Tours, encompassing the 21 villages and hamlets of Anthisnes, Baugnée, Berleur, Coibehay, Hestreux, Hody, Houchenée, Lagrange, La Ramée, La Rock, Les Floxhes, Limont, Moulin, Rapion, Targnon, Tavier, Tolumont, Viegeay, Vien, Villers-aux-Tours and Xhos.
Arable land and forests represent 61% and 21% of the municipality area, respectively.

The name of Anthisnes might come from Anteus, the owner of a Roman villa (estate). At that time, the Roman way between Reims and Cologne crossed the territory of Anthisnes.
In 946, Anthisnes became an ecclesiastic domain. From 1125, the fief known as Antina belonged exclusively to the abbey of Waulsort. The powerful prince-bishops of Liège could not perceive any tax on this fief until 1686. In 1664, Guillaume Natalis, abbey of the St. Lawrence's church in Liège, bought the fief of Anthisnes. In 1768, the prince-bishop of Liège exchanged Anthisnes for other domains with the Prince-Abbot of Stavelot.
When the county of Logne and the principality of Stavelot-Malmédy were incorporated into France in 1795, the villages of Anthisnes and Vien were merged into a municipality of the department of Ourthe, which later constituted the Belgian province of Liège.

Stone extraction was the main industry in Anthisnes. Extraction of limestone locally called petit granite started in the area of Anthisnes in the Middle Ages in order to built fortresses and, later, churches and farms. Industrial extraction of stone started in Anthisnes around 1875. There were in 1896 four quarries in Anthisnes, hiring 200 workers and 17 horses. The annual production was 2,700 cubic meters of freestone, that is 17 % of the production of the province of Liège. An other 655 cubic meters of rubber stones were also produced, as well as 77,000 cobblestones. The quarries of limestone were located in Anthisnes whereas sandstone was extracted in Tavier and Villiers-aux-Tours for cobblestone production.
This industry reached its peak in 1909, with 819 workers hired by fifteen quarries. Stone extraction started to decline after the First World War, during which cheaper substitute materials were popularized. After the Second World War, the quarries of Anthisnes hired foreign workers, Italians and then Portuguese.
Today, there are only three quarries still in exploitation in La Hazotte, Sprimont and Résimont, hiring 20 workers.
During the golden age of stone extraction, stones from Anthisnes were used to build several monuments such as the Central Post Office in Liège, the columns of the bridge of Fragnée (1905), the Monument of the Fifteenth Anniversary (cinquantenaire) of the independence in Brussels and the statue of King Albert I on the starting point of the Albert Canal in Liège.

Source: Municipal website

Ivan Sache, 8 February 2003


Municipal flag of Anthisnes

The municipal flag of Anthisnes is horizontally divided green-white-green, with two yellow disks placed horizontally in the upper green stripe, three black ermine spots placed horizontally in the white stripe, and one yellow disk placed in the lower green stripe, all these elements being placed close to the hoist.
According to Armoiries communales en Belgique. Communes wallonnes, bruxelloises et germanophones, the flag of Anthisnes was adopted by the Municipal Council on 7 June 1990 and confirmed by the Executive of the French Community on 4 April 1996, as:
Trois laizes longitudinales verte, blanche et verte d'égale largeur, la première chargée de deux besants jaunes, la deuxième de trois mouchetures d'hermine noires, la troisième d'un besant jaune, ces figures occupant la moitié à la hampe.

The flag is a quasi-banner of arms, the elements of the arms being skewed to the flag hoist. The arms belonged to the Lierneux family (the municipality of Lierneux, located not far from Anthisnes, uses different arms and has no reported flag).
The official description states that the three stripes are of equal width, which is unnecessary (the width of the stripes needs to be stated only if they are not equal).

Arnaud Leroy, Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 17 May 2007