The Belgian era of coal and its use in industry began in Liège in the 12th Century. It ended when the  last wagon-load came up out of the Zolder (Limbourg) colliery in 1992. We would like to invite you to find out all about this era in a unique mine building, the Puits-Marie.

The Puits-Marie was built in 1849, which makes it one of Belgium’s oldest mine buildings. It has now been filled in, but was once 234 metres deep and was the main shaft until 1887, after which it was used as a ventilation shaft until 1983. 

Visit to the mining museum (Puits-Marie). One of the oldest mining buildings in Belgium (1849)  © Blegny-Mine

Visit the mining museum © Blegny-Mine

This structure now has around twenty rooms showing an exhibition dedicated to eight centuries of coal-mining.

Here you can see the ventilators, the showers, the lamp store and the history of miners’ lamps, the compressor rooms, the electrical station, the infirmary, the administration office, etc.

This visit is free for families, with explanatory panels in two languages : French and Dutch with written support in English and German and guided for groups.

If you prefer not to go down the mine, then you can watch the video “A stone that burns" (20 minutes) before the visit. 

The museum has been set up in cooperation with the Liège University Science and Technology History Centre. Its remarkable collections come from the Maison de la Métallurgie et de l’Industrie Liégeoise (the old Musée du Fer et du Charbon), the ISSeP (previously INIEX), the Musée de la Vie Wallonne, Liège University, Blegny Colliery, the Confrérie des Maîsses Houyeûs, the Kempense Steenkolenmijnen, and private donations.