Things to do in Belgium

A skull and crossbones adorn the mossy grave of Antoine Michel Wemaer, a merchant buried here in 1837.

A century after the construction of the Waggelwater Bridge, a railway bridge over the Bruges-Ostend canal, a new railway bridge was commissioned in 2009, and trains no longer crossed the monumental Waggelwater Bridge.

The Belgian city of Bruges developed into an economic powerhouse from the 11th century onwards, thanks to its Medieval Flemish cloth industry and its international port.

In the early 20th century, between the railway line Ghent-Bruges and the Ghent-Ostend canal, 'La Brugeoise & Nivelles' rose from the ground, a famous railway equipment manufacturer.

The former Delhaize brush factory is one of Bruges' most striking and best-preserved industrial heritage sites.

Tuesday, May 15, 1934. In the Fief de Lambrechies mine in Quaregnon (Belgium), 46 miners are trapped like rats 821 metres underground after a mine gas explosion. Eleven rescuers dive into the shaft in search of survivors.

Two and a half centuries ago, on 13 February 1787, the first burial took place in Bruges' Central Cemetery on the outskirts of the city.

Two metal headframes in Charleroi are a last reminder of the glorious past of the Pêchon coal mine, where coal has been extracted since 1910.

In 1939, construction of a 50-kilometre defence line between Koningshooikt and Wavre, known as the KW-Line, began on behalf of the Belgian army.

Almost five thousand kilometres of tracks, 45 major bridges, tunnels, turntables, weighbridges, countless stops all over the country and spacious depots with water towers, warehouses and tram sheds. The Belgian National Company of Light Railways constructed this widespread tram network from 1885 onwards.