Malmedy

Malmedy was founded with Stavelot as a double monastery in the seventh century and the two shared an abbot who ruled as a prince of the Empire, though the towns competed constantly. The cathedral of Saints Peter, Paul and Quirin is an eighteenth-century building on the abbey site, and the Malmundarium in the former abbey buildings holds displays on leather, paper and the town's history, all local industries. The carnival, the Cwarme, runs for four days before Lent and is one of the more elaborate in Belgium, with the Haguete masked figures who catch spectators with a wooden claw and make them beg pardon, along with a set of other traditional characters, and it is a genuinely local event rather than a display.

History

The name is said to come from the Latin a malo mundarum, purifying from evil, after the floods of the Warche, and Saint Remacle, abbot of Solignac, founded a Benedictine monastery here in 648. For 1,146 years Malmedy and Stavelot together formed the Princely Abbey of Stavelot-Malmedy, ruled by 77 prince-abbots, though Remacle's choice of Stavelot as its chief town fed a long rivalry; cloth, leather and gunpowder works appeared in the 16th century, the principality became the leading tannery centre of Europe in the 17th, and papermaking made Malmedy rich, until revolutionary France annexed the principality in 1795 (Wikipedia, Malmedy).

The main sights

• The Cwarme carnival - four days with the Haguete and other masked characters.
• The Malmundarium - abbey buildings holding leather, paper and history displays.
• The eighteenth-century cathedral - built on the abbey site.
• Local leather and paper history - the industries the town lived on.

When to go

The four days before Lent for the Cwarme; April to October otherwise. Half a day. The Malmundarium closes on some Mondays. Carnival accommodation must be booked far ahead.

Good to know

Outside carnival there is not a great deal to see. The town was heavily damaged in the winter of 1944 and much is rebuilt. Interpretation is in French and German. The Haguete does physically catch people, which is part of it.

Nearby

Stavelot is west; the High Fens lie north-east.

Key facts