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Kelmis ( French La Calamine) is a municipality in the eastern cantons in the Belgian province of Liège with 11,108 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019). Kelmis is one of the nine municipalities of the German-speaking Community in Belgium. The earlier German name for Kelmis was Altenberg. Today the community belongs to the Euregio Meuse-Rhine .

 

The community Kelmis consists of the places Hergenrath, Kelmis (formerly Altenberg or Neutral-Moresnet) and Neu-Moresnet (formerly Prussian-Moresnet). It extends in the border triangle Belgium-Netherlands-Germany in the Göhl valley over an area of ​​around 18.12 km². The community is in the immediate vicinity of Vaals (NL) in the north, Aachen (D) in the northeast, Raeren (B) in the southeast, Lontzen (B) in the south and Plombières / Bleyberg (B) in the west. The closest cities are Aachen (8 km) Eupen (15 km) and Lüttich / Liège (40 km) in Belgium and Maastricht (40 km) in the Netherlands.

 

Today's Kelmis community was created on January 1st, 1977 through the merger of the former communities of Neu-Moresnet, Hergenrath and Kelmis.

 

The name of the municipality is derived from the ore calamine (mainly silicate calamine at this deposit, ie silica zinc ore ), which is known in this area as Kelms or Kelmes and was mined there in the early Middle Ages.

 

The Eyneburg in Hergenrath is one of the most important historical buildings in East Belgium. A cross-section of the development of the Kelmis community itself, its calamine cultivation and the operating company Vieille Montagne shows in an impressive way the Museum Vieille Montagne in the management building Vieille-Montagne .

 

In Kelmis there is the Prince Philippe Stadium , which can hold up to 4,000 spectators and where the RFC Union Kelmis plays its home games.

In a former quarry between Neu-Moresnet and Hergenrath, on the Göhl and not far from the Eyneburg , there is a sport climbing area established in 2005. It is operated by the Aachen section of the German Alpine Club . The maximum rock height is 20 m.