The Burning City is renowned for its two hundred stairs public to climb in its suburbs. They are not all in excellent condition, and for ten years, the city has launched an extensive rehabilitation program. Latest project to date, the Thier Savary, at the foot of the Sainte-Walburge mountain. This is the opportunity that the association of Old Liège is taking to launch an appeal for vigilance: it has already happened that during construction, steps “disappear”. This is the case, apparently, of the Saint-Hubert degrees in the Sauvenière district. A heritage site.
Louis Nisse, a user, testifies: “I have been using these stairs for almost three quarters of a century, since I have been able to walk, I have known them; I am not obsessive, but I know that there were 136 steps. After the restoration work carried out here regarding ten years, there are now only 126! Other neighbors can confirm this. Climbing them is now like an ordeal: the steps are higher, and it’s very uncomfortable, it’s much more tiring…”
However, it is a question of functionality that is put forward as an explanation, on the side of the alderman of works. At the start of the climb, the steps, previously, would have been too “short”, too small, too narrow and the plateaus would therefore have been widened for safety reasons. At the cost of an extension, since the slope has not changed.
Are other “disappearances” of steps to be feared, for the renovations that are being prepared? As for the authorities, the answer is no: each time, very precise specifications appear in the specifications; the statement is intended to be reassuring, but it is probably something to keep an eye on…
