Welcome to our district, the Quartier du Rempart.
This district has a rectangular layout, formed by the parallel streets Quai du Rempart and Rue du Moulin, and the small passageways Rue du Glacis and Rue de l’Imprimerie. These four street names reflect a rich past, referring to, among other things, a (disappeared) city wall that was once part of the fortifications, a watermill, and a printing house that played an important role during the Enlightenment.
Because of the presence of a city gate providing access from France, the Porte de France, this area was once a crucial place. The practice of flottage du bois (log driving) also brought great activity here: for a long time, the felled tree trunks arrived in Bouillon at the Porte de France, where they were taken out of the water.
The colorful Quartier du Rempart, where the Semois River flows into the city, was—and still is—a very special place!
A rich history through the centuries.
From the 17th century to the 21st century, the Quartier du Rempart has always been full of life.
We invite you to discover the unique history of this neighborhood.
Quai du Rempart & Rue du Glacis
Both the street name Quai du Rempart (the main street along the Semois) and Rue du Glacis (the small alley next to our restaurant) refer to the fortified town that Bouillon once was. Along the line of today’s Quai du Rempart—literally, the “quay of the ramparts”—there once stood a defensive wall.
It was Vauban, the renowned military architect of Louis XIV, who around 1690 had this fortified wall built to protect the town of Bouillon. The tall wall, 3.5 meters high with battlements and 60 cm thick, more or less followed the course of the Semois. This long wall was reinforced every 180 meters or so by a total of nine pentagonal bastions. Three gates were also constructed, one of them near the present-day Pont de France: the Porte de France.
This district is therefore located right next to what was once a very strategic place: the entrance gate to the town coming from France. The name Rue du Glacis also refers to an element of military fortification: a “glacis” is a sloping embankment or incline, rising up around a defensive work.
Rue du Moulin
Closest to the castle, and running parallel to the Quai du Rempart, is the Rue du Moulin (~Mill Street), a name that truly reflects its history. There once stood a mill here: a watermill powered by water from the Semois, diverted through a side channel (at La Vanne) to the mill.
The watermill was located roughly where the Hotel du Roy now stands, not far from the former city gate, the Porte de France, which formed part of the town’s defensive walls. The mill was what is known as a “ban mill”—property of the castle. The water then flowed back into the Semois through a drainage pipe at the site of today’s Papeterie.
The entire mill structure has now disappeared. Only the broad diversion of the Semois (at La Vanne) remains, running down to the large car park along the river next to the bridge. Today, this channel conveniently serves as the end point for kayaks.
Rue de l’Imprimerie
This quartier is bordered, at the end of the Rue du Moulin, by a small alley leading toward the Semois: the Rue de l’Imprimerie.
This “imprimerie” (~printing house) was located nearby, at the end of the street at number 2 Rue du Moulin. But this was no ordinary printing house! It was none other than Pierre Rousseau who set up his press in that house and established the Société Typographique there.
The French printer Pierre Rousseau belonged to the circle of so-called encyclopedists who, in the spirit of the Enlightenment then in full bloom, worked together on the production of encyclopedias. In 1756, Rousseau launched his own Journal Encyclopédique. It was not a book in bound volumes, but rather an encyclopedia published in periodical form.
Because censorship of such publications was becoming increasingly severe in France, he settled in Bouillon in 1760. Bouillon thus played an important role in spreading Enlightenment ideas. The Journal, which continued to be published until 1793, was an international success.
Rousseau, having developed a taste for success, became very wealthy. Together with his collaborators, he moved to the Rue du Moulin, where he founded a book-printing press, the Société Typographique. Bouillon thrived on the printing trade and gained fame and renown throughout Europe.
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12 may 1940
During a devastating Second World War offensive on 12 May 1940, several strategic parts of the town were razed to the ground by bombings. These were mainly the districts located near the bridges, which held strategic importance in preventing the Germans from advancing toward the Meuse at Sedan. Thus, the Maladrerie quarter as well as the Pont de Liège were destroyed. This very neighborhood suffered the same fate…
The colorful Quartier du Rempart:
home to many artists.
Many artists lived in this neighborhood: the renowned painter Angelina Drumaux, the poet Charles Van Lerberghe, the writer-poet Louis Boumal, the painter Guillaume Edeline, and the sculptor Henri Albert.
The colorful Quartier du Rempart, where the Semois flows into the town, was—and still is—a very special place!
The house where the French printer Pierre Rousseau established a printing press in the second half of the 18th century (Rue du Moulin no. 2) later became the birthplace of an important figure. It was here that the successful painter Angelina Drumaux was born on 23 January 1881, the daughter of Arthur Drumaux (1847–1920), a teacher at the Collège de Bouillon and a poet. He published several collections of poetry, including Fleurs d’Ardenne (1887) and Chants de la Semois (1918).
His daughter Angelina painted in an impressionist style that gradually evolved towards Luminism. Luminism was a movement in painting (roughly between 1880 and 1915) in which light and color were central. The magnificent work of Angelina, also known as “La Fée des Fleurs” (the Fairy of the Flowers), is therefore characterized by delicate plays of light and an emphasis on strong luminous effects.
The painter Guillaume Edeline also had a special connection with this house at Rue du Moulin no. 2, as he lived there for a time and had a beautiful studio at the back. In 1943, Edeline created a fine ink drawing of the house. The work was aptly titled Maison des Encyclopédistes, a nod to Rousseau’s Société Typographique printing house that had once been established there.
Originally from Namur, Edeline taught drawing at the Royal Atheneum of Bouillon during two periods, beginning in 1924 and again from 1944. Many of his beautiful works depict the landscapes and surroundings of Bouillon.
Many artists lived in this neighborhood: alongside Angelina Drumaux and Guillaume Edeline, it was also for a time the residence of the poet Charles Van Lerberghe.
This poet from Ghent loved coming to Bouillon, where he could devote himself in peace and quiet to the art of poetry. It was here that he successfully took up his pen to write his masterpiece La Chanson d’Ève (The Song of Eve), which was published in Paris in 1904.
The writer and poet Louis Boumal also lived with his family on the Quai du Rempart.
Born in Liège in 1890, he married Marie-Thérèse Werll. On 1 October 1913, freshly graduated as a Doctor of Romance Philology, he became a teacher of French and Latin at the Atheneum in Bouillon.
Louis Boumal was a promising young writer whose destiny was cut short by the war. His family happiness was also disrupted by the mobilization: his wife was pregnant when he had to leave Bouillon in August 1914. At the front, this lieutenant of the 5th Regiment of the Line was admired by his comrades, both for his courage and for his literary talent.
On 25 October 1918, he was admitted to hospital in Bruges, where he died five days later of the Spanish flu, just two weeks before the Armistice. Sadly, Boumal never saw his daughter Marie-José, who was born after his departure in 1914.
On the Quai du Rempart, a commemorative plaque marks the place where the Boumal family lived. His name also appears among the war victims on the Monument aux Morts in Bouillon. In Liège, a street was named after him, and in the Parc de la Boverie a memorial monument honors his memory.
The sculptor Henri Albert lived for many years near the Pont de France.
He was born in Bouillon on 17 April 1898 and in 1919 graduated in sculpture in Liège, where he was awarded a first prize.
Alongside his work as a road warden (from 1929), he was very active creatively as a sculptor, painter, and draftsman. This versatile artist was also a set designer and actor with the local theater troupe Saint-Louis.
Several of his works can still be admired in public spaces in Bouillon and its surroundings: among them the war memorial in Poupehan, and the statue of Saint Peter on the façade of the Institut Sainte-Marie in the Rue Georges Lorand.
From 1931 onwards, the Albert family lived at 37 Faubourg de France, where he had his studio, built against the rock face. In this special place, Henri Albert gave free rein to his creativity, producing many beautiful works, often imbued with religious inspiration.