Major Mining Sites of Wallonia

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Major Mining Sites of Wallonia: A Unique Industrial Legacy in Southern Belgium

The Major Mining Sites of Wallonia, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012, offers a fascinating glimpse into the rich history of the Belgian coal mining industry during the 19th and 20th centuries. This unique ensemble, located in the French-speaking provinces of Hainaut and Liège, comprises four distinct sites that showcase the architectural, social, and technological advancements of the time.

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UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site

The four sites of the property form a strip 170 km long by 3–15 km wide, crossing Belgium from east to west, consisting of the best-preserved 19th- and 20th-century coal-mining sites of the country. It features examples of the utopian architecture from the early periods of the industrial era in Europe within a highly integrated, industrial and urban ensemble, notably the Grand-Hornu colliery and workers’ city designed by Bruno Renard in the first half of the 19th century. Bois-du-Luc includes numerous buildings erected from 1838 to 1909 and one of Europe’s oldest collieries dating back to the late 17th century. While Wallonia had hundreds of collieries, most have lost their infrastructure, while the four components of the listed site retain a high measure of integrity.

Encyclopedia Record: Major Mining Sites of Wallonia

The Major Mining Sites of Wallonia is a UNESCO World Heritage Site comprising four sites in Wallonia in southern Belgium associated with the Belgian coal mining industry of the 19th and 20th centuries. The four sites of the grouping, situated in the French-speaking Hainaut Province and Liège Province, comprise Grand-Hornu, the Bois-du-Luc, the Bois du Cazier and Blegny-Mine.

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