10 Industrial Heritage Sites That Will Elevate Your Instagram

In the heart of Europe, beyond the well-trodden paths of its famous historical landmarks and natural wonders, lies a different kind of heritage—one forged from iron and steel, powered by steam and coal, and echoing with the toil of industry.

This exploration is not just about revisiting the past; it's about discovering the beauty in the monumental structures and machinery that powered the old continent into the modern age.

The brutalist concrete structures, rusty machinery, monumental Manchester buildings, and headframes are a dream setting for going out armed with your smartphone and taking pictures to elevate and enrich your Instagram account. Of course, you can find more inspiration via HiddenMonuments.com on Instagram.

World Heritage coal mines

Therefore, we take you to impressive coal mine relics, blast furnaces, ship loaders and railway infrastructure. Let's start with three former coal mines declared World Heritage Sites: Zeche Zollverein in Germany, Bois du Cazier in Belgium, and the Wallers-Arenberg mine in France. Some sites are converted to a museum.

Belgium

Marcinelle mining disaster

On August 8, 1956, disaster struck the Bois du Cazier mine in Charleroi, Belgium. A fire broke out hundreds of meters underground, killing 262 miners.

France

The Arenberg mine

When you say Wallers-Arenberg, you immediately think of the infamous cobblestone section in Paris-Roubaix bicycle road race, but Arenberg is also the name of the coal mine site located on the forest's edge.

Monumental blast furnaces

Not only coal mines produce beautiful images. The former steelworks with their monumental blast furnaces also capture the imagination. Traces of the iron and steel past can still be found in countries like Luxembourg, France and Germany.

Ruhr Area

Climbing a blast furnace in Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord

In 1901, August Thyssen built a steel factory with a blast furnace, the Rheinische Stahlwerke zu Meiderich bei Ruhrort, in Duisburg, Germany.

Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

The first European steel

The Belval blast furnaces in Esch-sur-Alzette are the last remnants of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg steel industry. In 1997, the steel factory was shut down for good, only to rise like a phoenix from its ashes a few years later.

Grand Est

Preserved blast furnace in Uckange

Of the six blast furnaces that the Uckange steel factory had in the early twentieth century, today, only the 71-meter-high blast furnace 4 remains.

Railway relics

And what about remnants of railways? Thousands of kilometers of unused rails, vacant stations or freight stations redeveloped into parks catapult you back to the era of steam locomotives and giant structures to overburden valleys.

The Vennbahn, stretching from Germany via Belgium to Luxemburg, is one of those abandoned railway lines. Today, you can cycle along it in a beautiful landscape. In Berlin, you can wander around in the former Tempelhof railway yard while you find the scenic Anzin station near Valenciennes in France.

Belgium

Germany

Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

Exploring the historical Vennbahn railway

Coal trains, military transports and steam locomotives across the High Fens have made way for cyclists on the historic Vennbahn—a report of the route between the German city Aachen and Waismes, in Belgium.

Berlin

Walking through an old railway yard

Until the middle of the twentieth century, loaded freight wagons rolled by at the Tempelhof railway yard, the boiling steam from locomotives spewed in all directions and smoked like burned coal. The mile-long railway yard was built in 1889 and expanded like crazy.

The station of Fresnes was recently one of the shooting locations for the television series Germinal that aired on France 2 in 2021.

Hauts-de-France

Coal track through Northern France

From 1838 onwards, the railway from Somain in France to Péruwelz in Belgium served several coal mines around Valenciennes and crossed the Belgian border at Vieux-Condé.

Rusting ship loader

Let's wrap your expedition up with one last, unique piece of industrial heritage, namely this ship loader along the Dender River in Lessines, Belgium. This ship loader, named 'Le Truc', was used to load stone from the quarries in Lessines on ships. However, since the 1980s, it has no longer been used.

Belgium

Abandoned ship loader Le Truc

In the Hainaut village of Lessines, along the Dender, this piece of industrial history is rusting: a ship loader used for loading crushed stone on the boats.

Hundreds of industrial and military locations

Discover even more industrial heritage on HiddenMonuments.com or cultural tips via our interactive heritage map. Our site also offers you a bunch of military sites and abandoned places. Furthermore, you find regional routes with anchor points, like Route der Industriekultur (Germany, Ruhr) or the hiking route GR 412 Sentier des Terrils (Belgium).