Eupen

Eupen is the capital of the German-speaking Community of Belgium, the smallest of the country's three language communities with about eighty thousand people, and it has its own parliament and government, which is a piece of constitutional arrangement visitors will notice in signage and in the trilingual character of the region. The town grew on cloth manufacture in the eighteenth century and has a run of merchant houses from that period along with a baroque church. Above it, the Wesertalsperre dam holds the largest reservoir in Belgium, supplying water to a wide area, with walks around the shore. The High Fens plateau begins immediately south, and a chocolate factory in the town runs visits.

History

Eupen and its chapel of St. Nikolaus are first recorded in 1213 in the Duchy of Limburg, which passed to Brabant after the Battle of Worringen in 1288, to Burgundy in 1387 and to the Habsburgs in 1477; Charles V granted two yearly markets in 1544, plague struck in 1635, the town gained its own court in 1648 and town rights in 1674, and cloth making came in 1680. Revolutionary France took it in 1794, the Congress of Vienna gave it to Prussia in 1815, where it was popular as a spa, and the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 transferred it to Belgium; the Vesdre dam built from 1938 to 1950 made Lake Eupen, and in 1980 Eupen became capital of the new German-speaking Community (Wikipedia, Eupen).

Highlights

• Eighteenth-century cloth merchant houses - the wealth of the textile period.
• The Wesertalsperre dam - the largest reservoir in Belgium above the town.
• The German-speaking community - its parliament and trilingual signage.
• The High Fens edge - the moorland plateau beginning just south.

When to go

April to October. Half a day. The carnival on Rose Monday is the town's biggest event. The reservoir walks are best in autumn. Museums keep limited hours.

Good to know

The town is small and quiet with limited sights; it is a base for the High Fens rather than a destination. Everything is in German first, French second. Museum hours are narrow. The reservoir shore is partly closed as a water catchment.

Nearby

The High Fens are south; Reinhardstein Castle lies south-west.

Key facts