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{{short description|City and municipality in Namur Province, Wallonia, Belgium}}
{{For|the community in Canada|Dinant, Alberta}}
{{more citations needed|date=May 2015}}
{{Expand French|topic=geo|Dinant|date=August 2025}}
{{Infobox Belgium municipality
|name             = Dinant
|picture          = Dinant_reflected.jpg
|picture-legend   = The citadel, the collegiate church and the Meuse
|map              = Dinant Namur Belgium Map.svg
|map-legend       = Location of Dinant in Namur
|arms             = Blason ville be Dinant (Namur).svg
|flag             = Flag of Dinant.svg
|province         = [[Namur Province|Namur]]
|arrondissement   = [[Arrondissement of Dinant|Dinant]]
|nis              = 91034
|mayor            = Thierry Bodlet ([[Mouvement Réformateur|MR]], ID!)
|majority         = ID! - Dinant - Dinant Autrement
|postal-codes     = 5500, 5501, 5502, 5503, 5504
|telephone-area   = 082
|web              = [http://www.dinant.be/ www.dinant.be]
|coordinates      = {{coord|50|16|N|04|55|E|region:BE|display=inline,title}}
}}
'''Dinant''' ({{IPA|fr|dinɑ̃|-|LL-Q150 (fra)-Manestra-Dinant.wav}}) is a [[City status in Belgium|city]] and [[Municipalities in Belgium|municipality]] of [[Wallonia]] located in the [[Namur Province|province of Namur]], [[Belgium]]. On the shores of river [[Meuse]], in the [[Ardennes]], it lies {{convert|90|km|mi}} south-east of [[Brussels]], {{convert|30|km|mi}} south-east of [[Charleroi]] and {{convert|30|km|mi}} south of the city of [[Namur]]. Dinant is situated {{convert|20|km|mi}} north of the border with [[France]].

The municipality consists of the following [[Deelgemeente#Belgium|districts]]: [[Anseremme]], [[Bouvignes-sur-Meuse]], Dinant, Dréhance, Falmagne, Falmignoul, Foy-Notre-Dame, Furfooz<!---(commune)--->, Lisogne, Sorinnes and Thynes.

==Geography==
Dinant is positioned in the Upper [[Meuse]] valley, at a point where the river cuts deeply into the western [[Condroz|Condroz plateau]].  Sited in a steep-sided valley, between the rock face and the river, the original settlement had little space in which to grow away from the river, and it therefore expanded into a long, thin town, on a north–south axis, along the river shore. During the 19th century, the former ''Île des Batteurs'' (Drummers' Island) to the south was attached directly to the town when a branch of the Meuse was filled in.

Dinant has been enriched by the agricultural opportunities presented by the fertile land on the plateau that overlooks it. Within the town, [[Ornamental brassware|brassware]] production is a traditional craft that has benefited from the presence of the broad and, at this point, easily navigable river which has facilitated easy delivery of the raw materials and ready distribution of the resulting products of the artisans' workshops. Another traditional source of wealth is provided by the [[limestone]] cliffs overlooking the town, which supported a high-end quarrying industry, producing [[Noir de Golzinne|black marble]] and [[bluestone]], and whose distribution also benefited from the proximity of the relatively wide and deep navigable river.

===Climate===
{{Weather box
|width = auto
|location = Dinant (1991−2020 normals)
|metric first = y
|single line = y
|Jan high C = 5.5
|Feb high C = 6.6
|Mar high C = 10.6
|Apr high C = 14.7
|May high C = 18.3
|Jun high C = 21.3
|Jul high C = 23.4
|Aug high C = 23.2
|Sep high C = 19.4
|Oct high C = 14.6
|Nov high C = 9.3
|Dec high C = 5.9
|year high C = 14.4
|Jan mean C = 2.5
|Feb mean C = 2.9
|Mar mean C = 5.8
|Apr mean C = 8.8
|May mean C = 12.6
|Jun mean C = 15.7
|Jul mean C = 17.8
|Aug mean C = 17.4
|Sep mean C = 13.9
|Oct mean C = 10.2
|Nov mean C = 6.0
|Dec mean C = 3.2
|year mean C =9.8
| Jan low C  =-0.5
| Feb low C  =-0.8
| Mar low C  = 1.0
| Apr low C  = 3.0
| May low C  = 6.9
| Jun low C  =10.2
| Jul low C  =12.2
| Aug low C  =11.7
| Sep low C  = 8.5
| Oct low C  = 5.9
| Nov low C  = 2.6
| Dec low C  = 0.4
| year low C = 5.1
|precipitation colour = green
|Jan precipitation mm = 78.6
|Feb precipitation mm = 70.3
|Mar precipitation mm = 65.2
|Apr precipitation mm = 50.6
|May precipitation mm = 69.7
|Jun precipitation mm = 70.5
|Jul precipitation mm = 76.3
|Aug precipitation mm = 82.3
|Sep precipitation mm = 61.6
|Oct precipitation mm = 69.8
|Nov precipitation mm = 72.4
|Dec precipitation mm = 94.0
|year precipitation mm = 861.3
|unit precipitation days = 1.0 mm
|Jan precipitation days = 13.3
|Feb precipitation days = 12.2
|Mar precipitation days = 11.7
|Apr precipitation days = 9.5
|May precipitation days = 10.8
|Jun precipitation days = 10.7
|Jul precipitation days = 10.4
|Aug precipitation days = 10.8
|Sep precipitation days = 9.4
|Oct precipitation days = 11.2
|Nov precipitation days = 12.6
|Dec precipitation days = 14.6
|year precipitation days = 137.2
|Jan sun = 55
|Feb sun = 72
|Mar sun = 127
|Apr sun = 178
|May sun = 202
|Jun sun = 209
|Jul sun = 216
|Aug sun = 206
|Sep sun = 159
|Oct sun = 111
|Nov sun = 61
|Dec sun = 45
|year sun = 1642
|source 1 = [[Royal Meteorological Institute]]<ref>{{cite web
| url = https://www.meteo.be/resources/climatology/climateCity/pdf/climate_INS91034_9120_nl.pdf
| title = Klimaatstatistieken van de Belgische gemeenten Dinant (nis 91034)
| language = nl
| publisher = [[Royal Meteorological Institute]]
| access-date = 13 October 2025
}}</ref>
}}

==History==

===Origins to the 10th century===
The name Dinant comes from the [[Celtic Languages|Celtic]] ''Divo-Nanto'', meaning "Sacred Valley" or "Divine Valley"; it can also be translated as "Celestial Gorge" or "Luminous Gorge" (as in modern [[Welsh Language|Welsh]] ''Nant Dwyfol'').

The remains of a prehistoric woman, known as the '[[Margaux woman|Margaux Woman]]', were found near Dinant in 1988. She is estimated to have been buried in the mid-ninth millenium B.C (part of the [[Mesolithic|Mesolithic period]]).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kuta |first=Sarah |title=See the Face of a 10,500-Year-Old Woman, Reconstructed by Archaeologists and Artists |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/see-the-face-of-a-10500-year-old-woman-reconstructed-by-archaeologists-and-artists-180986852/ |access-date=2025-09-03 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref>

The Dinant area was already populated in [[Neolithic]], [[Celt]]ic, and [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] times. The first mention of Dinant as a settlement dates from the 7th century, when Perpète of Maastricht, [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Tongeren|Bishop of Tongeren]], moved his principal residence from [[Maastricht]] to Dinant and founded the church of Saint Vincent.

Dinant was a part of the [[Francia|Frankish]] kingdom of [[Middle Francia]] from its creation in 843 by the [[Treaty of Verdun]] until its dissolution in 855 with the [[Treaty of Prüm]]. Like most of Middle Francia, Dinant then became part of the newly formed [[Lotharingia|Kingdom of Lotharingia]] within the [[Carolingian Empire]]. The Kingdom of Lotharingia was abolished in 869–870 and was divided by the [[Treaty of Meerssen]] in 870. With this, Dinant passed to [[West Francia]],  ruled by king [[Charles the Bald]]. With this passing of territory, he gave part of Dinant to be administered by the [[Count of Namur]], with the rest as a part of the [[Bishopric of Tongeren]], which was by that time based in [[Liège]]. West Francia eventually lost significant territory and no longer contained Dinant [[West Francia#Rise of dukes|by the 10th century]].

In the 11th century, the emperor [[Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry IV]] granted several rights over Dinant to the [[Prince-Bishopric of Liège]], including market and justice rights.  From that time on, the city became one of the 23 ‘‘bonnes villes’’ (or principal cities) of the Prince-Bishopric.  The first stone bridge on the [[Meuse]] and major repair to the castle, which had been built earlier, also date from the end of the 11th century.  Throughout this period, and until the end of the 18th century, Dinant shared its history with its overlord Liège, sometimes rising in revolt against it, sometimes partaking in its victories and defeats, mostly against the neighbouring County of Namur.

===Late Middle Ages===
Its strategic location on the [[Meuse]] exposed Dinant to battle and pillage, not always by avowed enemies: in 1466, [[Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy]], uncle of [[Louis de Bourbon, Prince-Bishop of Liège]], and Philip’s son [[Charles the Bold]] punished an uprising in Dinant during the [[Liège Wars]], by casting 800 [[bourgeoisie|burghers]] into the Meuse and setting fire to the city. The city's economic rival was Bouvignes, downriver on the opposite shore of the Meuse.

Late Medieval Dinant and Bouvignes specialised in metalwork, producing finely cast and finished objects in a silvery brass alloy, called ''dinanderie'' and supplying [[aquamanile]]s, candlesticks, [[paten]]s and other altar furniture throughout the Meuse valley (giving these objects their cautious designation "[[Mosan art|Mosan]]"), the Rhineland and beyond.

[[Henri Pirenne]] gained his doctorate in 1883 with a thesis on medieval Dinant.

===The Old Regime===
[[File:Map_of_Dinant.tif|thumb|Map of Dinant (circa 1770)]]
[[File:Pierre Tetar van Elven - View of Dinant.jpg|thumb|View of Dinant by [[Pierre Tetar van Elven]]{{request quotation|date=January 2022}}]]
[[File:Dinant-ruins-ww1.jpg|thumb|Dinant's destruction in World War I]]
In the 16th- and 17th-century wars between [[Kingdom of France|France]] and [[Spain]], Dinant suffered destruction, famine, and epidemics, despite its neutrality. In 1675, the French army under Marshal [[François de Créquy]] occupied the city. Dinant was briefly taken by the [[Austria]]ns at the end of the 18th century. The whole [[Bishopric of Liège]] was ceded to France in 1795. The ''dinanderies'' fell out of fashion and the economy of the city now rested on leather tanning and the manufacture of playing cards. The famous ''[[couques de Dinant]]'' also appeared at that time.

=== World War I ===
{{Main articles|Sack of Dinant}}
The city suffered devastation again at the beginning of the [[First World War]]. On 15 August 1914, French and German troops fought for the town in the [[Battle of Dinant]]; among the wounded was Lieut. [[Charles de Gaulle]]. On 23 August, 674 inhabitants were summarily executed by [[Royal Saxon Army|Saxon troops]] of the [[German Army (German Empire)|German Army]] &ndash; the largest massacre committed by the Germans in 1914. Within a month, some five thousand Belgian and French civilians were killed by the Germans at numerous similar occasions.<ref name=horne&kramer-atrocites>{{cite book |last1=Horne|first1=John |last2=Kramer|first2=Alan |work=German Atrocities, 1914: A History of Denial |date=2001 |title=Conclusion and Perspectives |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |isbn=0-300-08975-9 |pages=419 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Navs5TkI9oAC&q=we+have+confirmed+the+official+wartime+estimates+that+some+6%2C500+civilians+were+killed+in+Belgium+and+France+from+August+to+October+1914&pg=PA419 |access-date=8 November 2015 |via=books.google.com.au |quote=''... we have confirmed the official wartime estimates that some 6,500 civilians were killed in Belgium and France from August to October 1914.''}}</ref>

===World War II===
During [[World War II]], the city was again captured by German forces during the [[German invasion of Belgium (1940)|invasion of Belgium]]. German forces of [[Erwin Rommel]]'s [[7th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)|7th Panzer Division]] took the town on 13 May 1940, after crossing the [[River Meuse]] and defeating the French forces defending the town.

==Sights==
{{See also|List of protected heritage sites in Dinant}}

*The city's landmark is the [[Notre Dame de Dinant|Collegiate Church of Notre Dame de Dinant]]. It was rebuilt in [[Gothic architecture|Gothic style]] on its old foundations after falling rocks from the adjacent cliff partially destroyed the former Romanesque-style church in 1227. Several stages for a pair of towers on the west end were completed before the project was abandoned in favour of the present central tower with a famous onion dome and facetted multi-staged lantern.
*Above the church rises the vertical flank of the ''rocher'' surmounted by the fortified [[Citadel of Dinant]] that was first built in the 11th century to control the [[Meuse]] valley.  The [[Prince-Bishopric of Liège]] rebuilt and enlarged it in 1530; the French destroyed it in 1703. Its present aspect, with the 408-step rock-hewn stairs, is due to rebuilding in 1821, during the [[United Kingdom of the Netherlands]] phase of Dinant's chequered history. A cable car is available during the high season to take visitors from the Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame to the top of the Citadel.
*Away from the main block is the ''Rocher Bayard'' that was said to have been split by the giant hoof of [[Bayard (legend)|Bayard]], the giant horse carrying the [[Renaud de Montauban|four sons of Duke Aymon]] on their legendary flight from [[Charlemagne]] through the [[Ardennes]], told in ''[[Les Quatre Fils Aymon]]'', a famous 12th-century ''[[chanson de geste]]''. In reality the rock was split by the soldiers of [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]] after the conquest of Dinant in order to construct a road alongside the Meuse. 
*The house of [[Adolphe Sax]], inventor of the [[saxophone]], in the street of the same name. A little museum, [[Mr Sax's House]], commemorates his life and saxophones.
*Grotte de Dinant La Merveilleuse, a series of caves with impressive stalagmite and stalactite structures, is near the south west of the town.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://visitwallonia.com/en-gb/content/la-merveilleuse-grotto-dinant?cookie_lang=en-gb | title=La Merveilleuse, a grotto in Dinant }}</ref>

<gallery>
File:0 Dinant - La Collégiale N.-D. de l'Assomption et la Meuse (1).JPG|Dinant towards the south, seen from the citadel
File:Dinant-Belgium-2018.jpg|View from the left bank of the Meuse
File:2019 Panorama Dinant.jpg|2019 panorama of Dinant
File:RocherBayardDinant.JPG|''Rocher Bayard''
</gallery>

== Gastronomic culture ==
[[File:Couques de Dinant display.JPG|thumb|''[[Couques de Dinant]]'' at a Dinant bakery]]
*The ''[[Flamiche]]'' dinantaise is the local version of ''[[quiche]]'' made with a cheese called "boulette de Romedenne".
*The ''[[couque de Dinant]]'' is Europe's hardest biscuit, with a honey-sweetened flavour that is impressed with a carved wooden mould before baking.
*The beer brand ''[[Leffe]]'' originates from Dinant and there is a museum there.

== Transport ==
[[Dinant railway station|Dinant's railway station]] is on the left bank of the river. There is hourly train service to Brussels, about a 90-minute ride.<ref>{{cite web|title=Brussels to Dinant: Train times and train tickets|url=http://www.thetrainline-europe.com/train/brussels-to-dinant~0000008~8800054|website=www.thetrainline-europe.com|publisher=Trainline International Ltd.|access-date=9 November 2015}}</ref>

== Healthcare ==
Dinant hosts the ''Saint-Vincent'' and ''Saint-Anne'' sites (Centre Hospitalier de Dinant) of the [[CHU UCLouvain Namur]] university hospital, the provinces' largest employer and serving as [[teaching hospital]] for the [[Université catholique de Louvain|University of Louvain]].

== Notable people ==

*[[David of Dinant]], philosopher (birth in Dinant is uncertain, 12th century)
*[[Joachim Patinir]] or Patenier, 1485–1524, the first specialist [[landscape painter]]
*[[Antoine Joseph Wiertz]], painter (19th century)
*[[Adolphe Sax]], musician and inventor of many instruments, including the [[saxophone]] and [[Saxtuba]] (19th century)
*[[Georges Pire]], priest of the [[Dominican Order]] and [[Nobel Peace Prize]] recipient for 1958
*[[André-Eugène Pirson]] (Dinant, 21 March 1817-Brussels, 28 December 1881), governor of the [[National Bank of Belgium]] (NBB) from 1877 until 1881
*[[André Buzin]], artist and stamp designer (20th century)
*[[Alex Miskirtchian]], boxer

==Twin cities and twinning ==
{{More citations needed section|date=June 2020}}
*{{PHI}}: [[Cagayan de Oro]]
*{{ENG}}: [[Hoddesdon]], England
*{{GRE}}: [[Chios]]
*{{FRA}}: [[Dinan]]
*{{FRA}}: [[Disneyland Paris]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Richard |first=Alexis |date=2013-12-10 |title=Disneyland Paris-Dinant : le jumelage |url=https://radiodisneyclub.fr/disneyland-paris-dinant-jumelage/ |access-date=2022-05-06 |website=Disney : Toute l'actualité des films et de Disneyland Paris |language=fr-FR}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Rape of Belgium]]
*[[Auxbrebis]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
*{{wikivoyage inline|Dinant}}
*[http://www.dinant.be/ Official web site] in [[French language|French]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]], and [[English language|English]]
*[https://www.flickr.com/groups/dinant-belgium/ Dinant groups on Flickr]
*[https://www.ccdinant.be/ Dinant Cultural Center]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050903222214/http://www.citadellededinant.be/gb/photos.htm Citadel of Dinant: Official web site]
*[http://sax.dinant.be/fr/sax/lieux/plansax.pdf Map of Dinant with localisation of Adolphe Sax House]

{{Geographic location
|Centre = Dinant
|N  = [[Yvoir]]
|E  = [[Ciney]]
|S  = [[Houyet]]
|W  = [[Onhaye]]<br />[[Hastière]]
|NW = [[Anhée]]
}}
{{Municipalities in Namur}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Dinant| ]]
[[Category:Cities in Wallonia]]
[[Category:Sub-municipalities of Dinant]]
[[Category:Municipalities of Namur (province)]]
[[Category:Wallonia's Major Heritage]]