Blegny-Mine or Blegny-Trembleur at Blegny

Caution! All the described sites are private properties or belong to regulated public domains (natural reserves, forests…). An authorization preliminary to any visit or excavation is of course absolutely mandatory.

Coordinates

Blegny-Trembleur : 50°41'11.3"N 5°43'22.0"E

Description

We have visited for you…(16/04/2006)

Marc Jauniaux

You, who always dreamed, within the framework of your hobby, to visit a mine, do not hesitate to go to the small village of Blegny, close to Visé, in the old coal mining site of Liege.
At 23 Lambert Marlet street is the Blegny-mine ( in the past : Blegny Trembleur). You cannot miss it, the site being of course dominated by a pithead gear or headgear and a spoil-heap or slag-heap.
This last coal mining of Liege stops in 1980 and, immediately, was open to the public. It is an industrial site transformed very successfully into a tourist place. There it is possible to go down in an authentic mine, though a little arranged, and to imagine the hard work, the working conditions and the life of the miners.
The visit begins with a film which tells the fabulous history of the famous "black stone", from less than 300 million years to today.
Then, you dress your jacket, adjust your helmet and go down with the authentic mine lift (a cage!) to the underground gallery located at -30 meters.

The lift shaft	Level -60m

In this long horizontal gallery, you discover the stone-drifts, the drivages, the coal cut, the noise of the machines, the work of the men; you live, the time of a visit, at the same moment, the hard and enthralling universe of the "Houyeux".

Then you go down into the coal vein, along an old cut, and you find yourselves in the lower gallery at -60 meters. This layer was one of the first to be worked . Later, and until the end of the exploitation, one extracted coal until more than 500 m of depth. This part of the mine is now flooded and walled.
	The shoring

	A compressed air pipe connected to various pneumatic tools makes it possible to realize of the noise which it could reign in the mine. Only dust misses to really believe yourself in it.
Compressed-air puncher

Mould board and truck

After having gone "back to the day", to the level of the "receipt", you follow the course of the coal in the installations of sorting and washing. Tumblers, sieve, hoppers, system of caging and decking-off of the trucks, process of purification, washing and storage: all the treatment of coal is shown to you, since the arrival of the ore until its transport and its sale.
	Tumbler of truck

	Nothing changed in these buildings since their closing, not even the lamps which light Sainte-Barbe permanently, the owner protective of the miners.
Sainte-Barbe on the level of "the receipt"

Practical information :

The visits are done alternatively in French and Dutch. On request, and according to the availabilities of the guides, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish and Portuguese visits are possible. In order to guarantee a visit of quality, the number of visitors per guide is limited. It is thus desirable to know in advance the precise number of participants.
The underground circuit was adapted to allow an easy visit. The visit with wheelchairs is also possible.
The animals are not authorized. The mine can be visited at any age.
The temperature at the bottom is of approximately 15°. A jacket and a helmet are lent to you.

Ask to make the visit with Mr. Michel Claus, it is a former minor, since the age of 14 years, reprocessed since the closing of the mine of Blegny. He is insatiable and will tell you never-ending anecdotes on the life of the miners, moreover on his life. Count on 2 large hours for the visit.

"Full fires over eight centuries of coal extraction"

It follows by the visit of the museum, localised in the old buildings of another pit: the Pit-Marie (1816). This museum shows you eight centuries of coal extraction. Indeed, the era of coal and its industrial use began with the 12th century in Liege. The last truck of coal in Belgium was lift up in 1992 in Zolder stopping completely in the country the coal extraction. A page was turned!
	The Puits-Marie

Thanks to the technique of audio-guidance by infra-red, the piloting of lightings, animations and reconstitutions of antique decorations, you will discover that coal and its by-products left indelible traces in our life, today.
The visit is proposed in 4 languages: French, Dutch, English and German.

The only problem is that it is necessary to follow the schedules of visit and the immutable times assigned by the electronic guide which will accompany you during 1h30. If you are more interested in the Carboniferous fossils than in the miner's lamps, so much the worse, you will have to start again the visit.

The room of the compressors	The room of hanged.

There are finally a playground, cafeterias and of course "friteries"… everything to spend a pleasant day.

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Aerial Views

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© Pictures : MJX, except otherwise specified.

Panoramic Views

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© Pictures : MJX, except otherwise specified.

Pictures

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© Pictures : MJX, except otherwise specified.

Data Base : Fossils

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© Pictures : MJX, except otherwise specified.

Data Base : Minerals

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© Pictures : MJX, except otherwise specified.

Oldies

Links-miscellaneous

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Field trip pictures at Blégny