It can look forbidding. The Palace of the Prince Bishops in Liège dates from a time when Liège was an independent state.
The building is now occupied by the local law courts. You have to squeeze past a barrier to enter the courtyard. Sometimes armed police block the entrance because a local gangster is on trial.
The palace was built in the sixteenth century in the early renaissance style of Italy. The courtyard is surrounded by an arcade with fabulous columns decorated in grotesque style.
The bizarre faces, monsters and vegetation seem to fit the menacing atmosphere of the courts.
Look carefully in the arcade near the entrance and you will find a bronze plaque embossed with the last letter Georges Simenon wrote before he died.
Derek Blyth’s hidden secret of the day: Derek Blyth is the author of the bestselling “The 500 Hidden Secrets of Belgium”. He picks out one of his favourite hidden secrets for The Brussels Times every day.
