The Grand-Hornu

The former Grand-Hornu coal mine has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2012.

Owned by the Province of Hainaut, it currently houses two institutions that organize nearly 6 exhibitions per year: the , and the .

Located in the heart of the Province of Hainaut, a few kilometers from the cities of Mons and Valenciennes, the Grand-Hornu is one of the most beautiful sites of the industrial revolution. Former mining complex built between 1810 and 1830 by Henri De Gorge, a French-born industrial leader, the Grand-Hornu represents a true city project, a unique example of functional urban planning on the European continent at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

Since July 1, 2012, the Grand-Hornu has been recognized, along with the three other major mining sites in Wallonia — Bois-du-Luc, Bois du Cazier, and Blegny-Mine — as a UNESCO World Heritage site

These four sites represent the best-preserved locations of coal mining operations in Belgium, from the early 19th century to the second half of the 20th century.

The Walloon coal basin is one of the oldest and most emblematic of the Industrial Revolution on the European continent. The four sites include numerous technical and industrial remains, both from surface and underground coal mining, as well as industrial architecture associated with the mines, workers' housing, the urban planning of mining towns, and the social and human values of their history—particularly the memory of the Bois du Cazier disaster (1956).

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