Cement and concrete

Belgian 'Cement king' Martin Verbeeck (1882–1959) built an industrial empire in the Kempen region, only to see it collapse in the aftermath of the 1929 stock market crash.

A 49-meter-long bridge over the River Scheldt, dating back to 1959, was the first railway bridge in Belgium to utilise the technique of prestressed concrete.

A fence of precast concrete elements borders a former GDR-run horticultural farm in the German capital, Berlin.

You can still find a monumental remnant of a nineteenth-century lime kiln complex along the Scheldt.

The concrete remains of the Cimenteries Alexandre Dapsens are perhaps the oldest witnesses to the technique of prestressed concrete in Belgium.

Dozens of historic lime kilns stretch along the banks of the Scheldt between Antoing and Tournai. They evoke the heyday of the cement industry in the region.

For more than half a century, this lime factory's four kilns produced 180 tons of lime per day, but today, the complex stands alone in a forest near Aachen, Germany.