Limburg
When Limburg became the El Dorado of Belgium at the beginning of the 20th century, coal mines sprang up like mushrooms. In their wake, garden suburbs and engineers' and directors' homes were built.
Coal mines in the Kempen basin
On 2 August 1901, André Dumont received a telegram saying 'Kohle angebohrt'. What the Belgian geologist had long suspected was confirmed in the early twentieth century: the Limburg subsoil was brimming with coal. Seven coal mines popped up like mushrooms. Six were partly preserved after the closures at the end of the 20th century.
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Limburg
At the place where the Leuven professor of geology and mining, André Dumont dug up the Limburg soil from 1901 to find coal, a monument commemorates his find.
Limburg
The monumental coal preparation plant of Beringen is the showcase of the Beringen coal mine. Yet the four wings of the complex were threatened with demolition for years. However, in 2023, the be-NATURE project was given the green light.
Limburg
A Monnoyer-type water tower stands in the shadow of the headframe and compressor building of the Helchteren-Zolder mine.
Limburg
The Kempen mining basin in the Belgian province of Limburg had not six, but seven coal mines. However, the Zwartberg mine is the only one that has completely disappeared from the map.
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On the occasion of International Art Nouveau Day, celebrated each year on June 10, a look at how this ornate architectural movement found its way into the most unlikely of places like coal mines, power stations, and railway yards and the long, sometimes heartbreaking battles to save what remains.
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