John Cockerill (and the rest of his family) propelled Belgium, the Netherlands, Prussia and France into the era of the Industrial Revolution in the early 19th century. A few decades after Cockerill's death, a monument honoring the 'father of the workers' was unveiled in the streets of Seraing.
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On the Luxemburgplein in Ixelles, you will come across the John Cockerill Monument. In 1872, a year after his statue was unveiled in Seraing, Willem Rau, Cockerill's loyal right-hand man, took the initiative to donate a statue to Brussels.
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