Informations
On the offer
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."