Description

"Le Puits-Marie contains the collections of Blegny-Mine, the Liège Metallurgy and Industry Centre (former Museum of Iron and Coal), the Museum of Wallon Life, the ISSeP the former INIEX), of the University of Liège and the Confraternity of the Maisses Houyeux, as well as various private donations.The "Puits-Marie" can definitely be regarded as a major vestige of the Belgian mining heritage of the 19th century. It is at once an old mine, with "classic" metal head frame and a huge building housing different surface equipment required to make the coal mine work: the extraction machine, the compressors, the sowers, the fans, the lamp works, the technical and administrative premises. The date when it first went into operation as a mine cannot be exactly set. Two dates often mentioned are 1816 and 1818, and they are probably close to reality. Initially it appears to have served as a ventilating shaft, and was probably surmounted by a wooden frame. The first 20 feet were dug by hand". Excerpt from heritage sheet no. 94.13."