Industrial Heritage

A century ago, between 1923 and 1924, the Grandes Molinos Vascos was one of the first reinforced concrete structures on the banks of the Nervión River in the Spanish Basque country.

In 1900, shipbuilder Euskalduna settled in the old docks of Bilbao, Spain. Thanks to World War I, the shipyard underwent massive expansion.

In 1967, Ghent's municipal electric power plant was expanded with a brand-new building that housed three giant diesel engines.

Melle, near Ghent, was once the walhalla for flower and ornamental cultivation. Greenhouses, florist houses and horticultural businesses flanked the roads.

Ghent and Eeklo have been connected by railway line 58 since 1861. A year later, a railway bridge over the Schipdonk canal allowed travellers to travel further to Maldegem.

Iron ore has been mined on the banks of the Nervión River since the 15th century. The soil there is veined with galleries from the various iron ore mines, including San Luis. 

Alberto Palacio, a Spanish engineer and architect, made history in 1893 when his design of a suspension bridge was put into use over the Nervión. This Spanish river flows into the Bay of Biscay near the port of Bilbao.

In 1959, an eighty-metre-high blast furnace rose from the ground in Sestao, a municipality about five kilometres from the Spanish port city of Bilbao.

An iron railway bridge has stretched across the Old Rhine close to the Dutch border for over a century and a half.

Since Roman times, the Aiako Harria massif in the Basque Country has been mined for iron ores. Iron ore mining gained momentum in the mid-19th century.