A little history: a Rector's dream...

A university in tune with nature

In the 1950s, Rector Marcel Dubuisson sought to give a "esprit de corps" to the university community in Liège, a spirit frustrated by the fragmentation of faculty sites in the city center. The Rector was also impressed by the modern, integrated American campuses, where students from different faculties could meet easily and learn from each other.

He wanted to build a real campus in Liège, and the idea of the Sart Tilman took shape. In the hills above Liège, at the top of the Ourthe and Meuse valleys, there was a 2,000-hectare wooded estate. A jewel of greenery, the last green lung of the Liège basin... threatened by anarchic urbanization. For Rector Dubuisson, it's the ideal site on which to build the University of Liège for the 21st century. A university in harmony with nature.

The first plots of land were acquired in 1958. Construction began in the 1960s. The first buildings were erected on the ridges around the Blanc Gravier stream, forming a horseshoe overlooking the Ourthe valley. The architectural style was resolutely avant-garde.