The 2nd of the 4 Coal Mining Sites that we visited, under UNESCO, is
the Bois Du Luc (read about the 1st site we visited Grand Hornu). This is quite different from the concept of Grand Hornu. While that
was by the very forward-thinking man LeGrand who gave a lot of facilities and a 'cathedral' of mining sites with its unique architecture, this was more of a typical coal mine known for its social life! No, it isn't the same as the social life
that we know of today's digital era. It's the society of coal miners that we are talking about.
BOIS DU LUC vs GRAND HORNU
It is a bit scary, to begin with..... The door through which you
enter the site looks like a guillotine! On either side of it are
high watchtowers like a castle. Overall, it looked more like a
prison, than a coal mining site. A shocking difference from Grand
Hornu!!! This is what pure capitalism looks like, especially when
it almost touches being dictatorship!!!
HISTORY OF BOIS DU LUC - MAJOR MINING SITES OF WALLONIA
This was built in 1685 and was active till 1935. The way it is been
presented now reminded me of Churchill War Rooms in London where life-sized mannequins are kept to recreate how
it would have been when it was functional! Unlike Grand Hornu, which
was a one-man army, in this case, this was owned by a group of 8
shareholders.
VIRTUAL TOUR OF BOIS DU LUC - MAJOR MINING SITES OF WALLONIA
The first room to see was the room of the director's room. First thing,
this has the oldest form of CCTV! Well, almost... A periscope
styled architecture with an angled mirror atop the ceiling outside the
door, helps the manager to see who is there, from his seat!!!! The room
also has a rich wall tiled with marbles.... errrr..... no,
fake marbles; the walls have been painted to look like marble! It
was a well-paying job in that era, to paint walls with marble finish, for
the skilled house decorators!!!
The whole village is set up around the mines! Unlike Grand Hornu here the
houses of the workers are not luxurious and in fact, lacked a lot
including private toilets! It was only in a later era with the influence
of the church, that private bathrooms and separate bedrooms for children
etc. were built. The houses were originally much smaller which got
extended to the first floor, thanks to the interference of the church to
keep boys & girls separate, and parents separate etc. There is still
1 house preserved in the original style for the visitors to have a
look at.
INDUSTRIAL PATERNALISM AT BOIS DU LUC
The Director's house was located at the end of the streets
positioned higher than the rest of the houses, so that he literally
could watch over the society! The society had girls school, boys school,
gyms, pubs, theatre, communal hall, church, hospital, grocery shop etc
within itself all at a lower price! At the end of the village that leads
to Mons city was the church. Even people who tried to get out of the
village on Sundays were questioned of their motives, by the Church! To a
major extent, this was almost dictatorship (provide all facilities, but
interfere in everything - doesn't that almost sounds like a teenager's
father???), and is aptly called Industrial Paternalism. You know,
you couldn't bit*h about the management sitting & drinking in this
bar where drinks are cheap, coz your manager is watching..... Get the
situation???
LIFE AT BOIS DU LUC - MAJOR MINING SITES OF WALLONIA
The workers were from different countries incl Belgian, Italian, Turkish,
Greek, Spanish, Polish etc. With more & more influence of worker
rights happening around the world, once a major strike happened here after
which the management took some drastic decisions. It was then the
watchtowers and guillotine doors were installed. The workers were told
that if they strike again, the management would call the police to shoot
from the tower! But then, it was one big lie to scare the workers. The
watchtower is actually empty inside. Though there are windows up there,
there is no way to reach them or stand there! There is no stairs or
platforms!!!
Today a visit to Pit Saint Immanuel can be done, however, it
isn't possible to go down. An overview with life sized mannequins given
an idea of how the everyday life of a mining worker was including
some original photographs of the miners both at work and in
leisure. Before entering the pit, every worker was given a safety lamp in
exchange for his badge. This not only showed the methane content
in the pit but in case of an accident, this was their way to finding who
were trapped in there, by seeing whose badges were still
unclaimed.
The mined coal was then brought up and sent to
washing and sorting shed. The smaller coal was used for
household purposes and larger ones were used for industrial purposes.
Sorting was done by hand and mostly women were employed for this. For
every 100kg of extraction, only about 60kg was coal. The rest (rocks
& waste) was discarded in the backyard forming
slagheap which in course of time grew as small hills!!!
Earlier horse-drawn carriages were used to pull
coal wagons. Yes, horses were down there in the pit. Yes, it is an era when
human rights didn't have much importance, so animal rights didn't
matter! However, later railways came into use. Architecture in certain places is interesting, like at the
de-watering site. The 3 arches with Greeco-Roman pillars won
awards at an Art Exposition! And yeah, that's the super lively guy
Jeff who explained to me all about the site!
HOW TO REACH BOIS DU LUC
Where is Boid du Luc (on Google Maps):
Bois du Luc
How to reach La Louvière Centrum from Brussels - Direct Intercity (IC) train is available from Brussels Central.
Frequency is once every hour and the journey time is about 1
hour.
How to reach Bois du Luc from La Louvière Railway Station: 3km (LeTEC bus route 37. Runs once every hour on weekdays
& Saturdays and only thrice a day on Sundays. Check the
timetable on
official LeTEC website)
How to reach Bois du Luc from Mons - LeTEC bus route 82. Runs once every hour on weekdays &
Saturday and once every 2 hours on Sundays. The journey time is
about 1 hour.
BOIS DU LUC TICKETS
€8 (Inclusive in Mons Card)
€14 for a combined ticket with Grand Hornu.
The ticket can be bought at the entrance of the site or reservation can be done on phone
Free guided tour on first Sunday of every month 15:00 from Apr-Sept
€8 (Inclusive in Mons Card)
€14 for a combined ticket with Grand Hornu.
The ticket can be bought at the entrance of the site or reservation can be done on phone
Free guided tour on first Sunday of every month 15:00 from Apr-Sept
BOIS DU LUC OPENING HOURS
Tue-Fri 10:00AM to 5:00PM (open on weekends too from Apr -
Sept)
WHERE TO STAY IN LA LOUVIÈRE
There are a few hotels in La Louvière centre. Orange Hotel, La
Louvière is located very close to the boatlifts.
WHERE TO STAY IN MONS
Instead of staying in La Louvière, another option is to stay in the
nearest city of Mons. Hotels and B&Bs at all price points are
available in Mons city centre. Here’s my review of Martin's Dream Hotel, Mons where I stayed.
DAY TRIP TO LA LOUVIÈRE (LA LOUVIÈRE 1 DAY ITINERARY)
Bois du Luc Coal mine,
Four Historic Boatlifts and Strepy Thieu
MY COMPLETE MONS TRAVELOGUE (THINGS TO DO IN MONS)
Neolithic Flint Mines at Spiennes, Grand Hornu, Bois du Luc, The 4 boat lifts on Canal and Strepy Theiu, Mons Belfry, Mundaneum, Doudou Museum, St.Waudru Church, Townhall, St.Elizabeth Church and other hidden spots!
MONS 3 DAYS ITINERARY
Day 1 - Grand Hornu, Neolithic Splint mines at
Spiennes
Day 2 - Bois du Luc, Ancient boat lifts &
Strepy Thieu
Day 3 - City of Mons - Belfry, Mundaneum, Doudou
Museum, Beaux-Arts Mons etc
P.S: I was invited by Visit
Mons and Wallonia Tourism to experience the city for review purposes, however, the opinions are my own and this post
does not advertise the product/service.
Can't keep track will all the UNESCO sites in the world haha! Would love to add this one to the list a lot. Quite a little historic place to be. If we pass by Belgium on our road trip this summer will consider to pass by!
ReplyDeleteWow interesting that this UNESCO heritage site is made up of 4 sites and this is just the second one of your visit. It sounds so interesting to learn and see more about how life was lived here in history. Intriguing that the Director’s House could overlook the whole society. This sounds like quite the interesting place to visit.
ReplyDeleteWhat a place. Never thought this coikd be a heritage site. Such a unique place to visit. Some sad stories but overall a great place when it would ha e been at its perk. Very well presented and the photos are great as well. Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteI read your last post on Grand Hornu and it definitely sounds like you had a better time here! So interesting that the watch tower is just for show these days and you can’t even get up there. I love reading about these lesser known places, especially ones that are UNESCO site!
ReplyDeleteSuch a cool place! It's so interesting to know about the history of the place. I love visiting UNESCO site so will definitely put this place on the list.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading your unique posts on heritage sites. I never thought of visiting a coal mine during my travels as it look very industrial kind of thing. I admire your guts to go in and check all those tough things. The story of workers, police and all stuff in this coal mine reminds me of old Bollywood movie - 'Kala Pathar' starring Amitabh Bachchan. Every coal mine has some story. Though that entrance door is guillotine but its turquoise blue color looks photogenic.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really cool place. I love visiting UNESCO sites as well. We visited one in Tasmania recently but it was basically a coal mine that the worst of the worst offenders were sent to from the jail so it was a lot more grim. Its interesting how they threatened the workers from the watch tower with no intention of actually following through. It obviously worked!
ReplyDeleteIn Europe a lot of such mines have been converted into tourist places and some of those are also UNESCO WH sites. Thats a unique way of promoting tourism compared to India. Mines are always a place least known to common people.
ReplyDeleteI have been to Belgium several times but I have never seen a mine coal. Is definitely an experience to add in my next trip there. Is it suitable also for kids?
ReplyDeleteI believe that you developed a fascination with rustic places after visiting the first ones. From the pictures it looks like a setting from those steampunk novels and people in leather trenchcoats are walking on the streets. It is a good thing that places like Bois Du Luc has been declared a world heritage sites. Conservation of such places is really important.
ReplyDeleteThe contrast between this place and the Grand Hornu site you wrote about last week is amazin. It's incredible how litte importance human life had back in those times, and how much we have progressed. Those UNESCO mines are more interesting than they look at first glance!
ReplyDeleteyou continue sharing some really interesting, unknown spots in Belgium. And that one is the place where I would go! Engineer on your always goes to see older engineering:)
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting post on less-visited places in Belgium. You have included very detailed observations of the site. I see the little one is enjoying himself on the sunny grass patch. These experiences will go a long way in enriching and shaping his personalty.
ReplyDeleteIts amazing to see the rooms and factory so well preserved keeping alive the atmosphere of the mining days. I didnt have time to visit this place while in Belgium but I will keep it mind for the future :)
ReplyDelete