NAMUR (Flemish, Narnen), a town of Belgium, capital of the province of Namur. Pop. (1930) The town lies on the left bank at the junction of the rivers Sambre and Meuse, while the rocky promontory forming the fork between them is crowned with the old citadel, which occupies the site of the old castle of the counts of Namur. This citadel is no longer used for military purposes, and its hill is converted into a park, while the crest is occupied by a hotel reached by a cogwheel railway. Namur is connected with the citadel by two bridges across the Sambre, and from the east side of the promontory there is a fine stone bridge to the suburb of Jambes. This bridge was con structed in the II th century and rebuilt in the reign of Charles V. It is the only old bridge in existence over the Belgian Meuse. The cathedral of St. Aubain or Albin was built in the middle of the i8th century. The church of St. Loup is a century older, and
is noticeable for its columns of red marble from the quarry at St. Remy near Rochefort. There is a considerable local industry in cutlery, and there are tanneries and glassmaking factories.
In the feudal period Namur formed a marquisate in the Courtenay family. Jousts on stilts were a mediaeval custom that lasted into recent times here. Don John of Austria made Namur his headquarters in the Netherlands, and died here in 1578. Louis XIV. took it in 1692 and Vauban renewed the defences but William III. retook it in 1695, though the French held it again from 1702-12. In 1893, under the new scheme of Belgian defence, the citadel and its detached works were abandoned, and in their place nine outlying forts were constructed at a distance of from 3 to 5 m. Namur suffered considerably in the World war. (See BELGIUM, INVASION OF.)