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Lincent (Municipality, Province of Liège, Belgium)

Lijsem

Municipal flag of Lincent - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 18 October 2005

Presentation of Lincent and its villages
Municipal flag of Lincent

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Presentation of Lincent and its villages

The municipality of Lincent (in Dutch, Lijsem; 3,055 inhabitants on 1 January 2007; 1,475 ha) is located in the region of Hesbaye, on the borders of the Province of Liège with Walloon Brabant and Flemish Brabant, 44 km of Liège and 54 km of Brussels. The municipality of Lincent is made since 1976 of the former municipalities of Lincent, Pellaines and Racour.

Lincent (1,466 inh.) is mostly known for its white stone called Lincent tufa (tuffeau de Lincent), extracted from the Roman times to the end of the Second World War. In the past, Lincent was nicknamed the white stones' village (le village aux pierres blanches). Tufa is a chalky calcareous stone, which turns more white when ageing. The Touraine tufa was used to build most of the Renaissance castles to be seen in the valley of Loire in France.
Since the XIIth century, the Lincent tufa has been used to build religious buildings, farms, houses and kilns. The ancient church of Lincent, closed down since 1907, was built in tufa in Romanesque (central nave, XIIth century) and Gothic (choir, XIVth century) styles. The church is surrounded by a cemetary and a presbytery, also closed down. The last active quarries in Lincent were located in a place called Li Pîr'rêye and are remembered by a brotherhood called Li Pîr'rêye di Lîcint. The brotherhood promotes two local beers whose colour recalls the wealth of the soil of Licent: a dark beer recalls the dark agricultural soil whereas a light beer recalls the tufa.

Pellaines (456 inh.) is a village grouped around a farm-castle built in Lincent tufa. The farm-castle houses two bells from the ancient church of the village. The oldest of these bells was made in 1404 and bears a Latin writing saying: "I am the decimal bell dedicated to Mary". The decimal bell was rang by the priest to call for the tithe (dîme). The second bell bears two writings: "The Simon founded me in 1771" and "I was augmented and refounded by Vleminckx, priest of Pellaines". That bell was stolen by the Germans and retroceded after the end of the First World War.

Racour (1,075 inh.) has a church with a big Romanesque-Gothic (XIVth century) defense tower. The tower is 33-m high and its walls are 2.40-m wide in the base of the tower. A spiral staircase with 91 marches, made inside the turret, leads to the pepper-box crowning the tower. The tower houses a polychromatic wooden statue of St. Christopher made in Byzantine style in the XIIth century. The statue is probably the oldest wooden representation of the saint in Europe. Racour was granted in the Middle Ages two charts in 1233 and 1299.

Sources:

Ivan Sache, 18 October 2005

Municipal flag of Lincent

The municipal flag of Licent has a background vair white and blue in an inverted chevron patters, with two red chevrons superimposed.
According to Armoiries communales en Belgique. Communes wallonnes, bruxelloises et germanophones, this flag was proposed by the Heraldry and Vexillology Council of the French Community, as Vair bleu et blanc en chevron renversé, chargé de deux chevrons rouges.
The flag is a banner of the municipal arms.

Arnaud Leroy, Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 18 October 2005