Panic sets in on the morning shift as news of a fire spread though the Bois du Cazier mine. People are shouting, rescuers rush in, and eventually the Belgian king arrives to show support. In 1956, one of the worst mining disasters in the history of European coal mining occurred in the Belgian coal mine in Bois du Cazier. The mine closed for good a few years later and fell into disrepair. Today, the mines of Bois du Cazier are part of the UNESCO World Heritage as a memorial to Belgian coal mining. We visited the museum and memorial at the Bois du Cazier mine and the experience left a lasting impression.
How we learned about Bois du Cazier
Last year we took a night train from Brussels to Berlin. The train consisted of a medley of old sleeping carriages which our younger fellow passengers fondly called “vintage cars”. Without electrical sockets and with dead phones, the six of us in the compartment had to resort to some old-fashioned conversations at some point. The other four travellers were from Belgium, and, surprisingly, all had some connection or other to Charleroi. When we wondered aloud why we’d never thought of visiting Belgium’s second-largest city, they laughed. “Oh, really, Charleroi? But it is the ugliest city in Belgium! Nothing to see but industry!”
But that’s how we first heard about the Bois du Cazier mine near Charleroi. It is a Belgian UNESCO site well worth exploring – more so than Charleroi’s Belfry which is also part of the UNESCO World Heritage.
Charleroi, an industrial town
So here we are in Charleroi, ready to explore. The city is a quirky mix of brutalist, non-descript, and belle epoque buildings, with some ageing comic strip statues also scattered about. From the city centre you can see some mining headframes. Even when we arrived on the train towards Charleroi we already passed unmistakable slug hills and more of these headframes. Having visited the Welsh Blaenavon Big Pit and previously cycled through the Ruhr area coal mining towns, we quickly recognize a mining region.
We hop on bus #52 heading for the suburbs of Marcinelle, past a stone chapel in Roman style and through the countryside. Finally, we get off in Cazier, a quiet village by the look of it. A nearby hill is grown with trees.
During our visit to the Bois du Cazier coal mine, we decided to go for the audio guide, which we don’t often do. This time, it turned out to be a surprisingly informative and entertaining choice. The guide takes a creative approach, using two fictional characters as narrators, as in a podcast. Luigi is a former miner who witnessed the tragic accident, while his younger sister Monica is now involved in preserving the site’s history. As they walk you through the coal mine’s grounds, they share personal stories and insights. This way, the audio guide is offering a captivating way to learn about the mine’s past.
The Bois du Cazier coal mine
Bois du Cazier means Cazier’s Forest. And indeed there must have been woodland once, though by the 1950s, the trees were long gone. The Charleroi region in Southern Belgium was rich in coal and by the 19th century, this became an asset for the beginning industrialisation. Entrepreneurs quickly started to exploit them. Belgium became the world’s second most industrialised country after Britain. Today that seems a long-forgotten history, but the industrial past is still very visible in Wallonia.
After two world wars, the mines were in disrepair and particularly lacking workforce. But the government believed that coal mining was crucial for rebuilding the Belgian economy with its focus on steel, automobile parts, and heavy industry.
The Belgian-Italian Deal for Coal Mine Workers
In the aftermath of World War II, Belgium was plagued by labor shortages. As early as June 1946, the Belgian government struck a pioneering deal with the Italian government. The idea was to recruit workers from Italy, especially for the coal mining industry. Later in the postwar period, these international recruiting agreements became standard in European countries to fill the gaps in their labour force. For instance, Germany massively recruited so-called guest workers since 1955. The first of these also came from Italy. However, the German agreement with the most visible lasting effect was the deal with Turkey in 1961.
By comparison, the Belgian coal mining deal was very early. In June 1946, around 50.000 Italian men arrived in Belgium to work. Many were quite unaware that their new job would take them 1000 m below ground into the coal mines. Some of them returned to Italy after experiencing the harsh mining conditions, but most stayed on. After a year or so authorities allowed them to bring their families, marking the start of a significant Italian immigrant community in Belgium. Remember, this was before the European Union guaranteed freedom of movement.
Life for Italian Families in the Belgian Coal Towns
Initially the miners were put up in simple barracks – often repurposed from former prisoner-of-war camps. As their families arrived, the demand for proper housing surged. Unable to meet the need, coal mining communes provisionally converted the old camp shelters into makeshift homes, creating slum-like conditions. Eventually cheap housing estates were built. Most of the Italian families then lived in separate settlements based on their regions of origin in Italy. Everyone spoke a certain Calabrian or Sicilian dialect, cooked the same food and celebrated the same festivals. One of our fellow travellers on the train from Brussels to Berlin had shared a story of her grandmother growing up in one such Italian village in Charleroi, a direct result of the Bois du Cazier mining deal.
The Bois du Cazier Mine Fire: A Tragic Chapter in Belgian History
If you’re visiting Belgium, a stop at the Bois du Cazier mine offers a poignant glimpse into a tragic event of Belgian history.
On the morning of 8 August 1956, 275 miners, about half of them Italian, enter the mine as usual. They descend in low cages in one part of the long elevators travelling up and down the mine shaft. The other compartments of these tall elevator cars contain tools and empty coal tubs. Long mechanical wires releasing a whistle are the only means of communication between the operators above ground and the workers down in the mines.
That morning disaster struck, when a lorry from level 975 (that is: 975 m below ground!) wasn’t properly fixed in the elevator. It came loose when the elevator erroneously started up again. This caused it crashing into electrical wires, an oil pipe, and a compressed air pipe, sparking a fire. Due to the slow communication system, the fire had already extended to the elevator shaft by the time the people above ground realised what was happening. By then it was too late to rescue the workers down in the mine. Rescue attempts were further hampered by other safety issues for almost three weeks. And although some of the trapped workers did escape to an even lower level, tragically none of them survived.
A coal mining museum at Bois du Cazier
After the accident, the Bois du Cazier mine continued operations for a few more years before closing down for good in 1967. Safety issues, despite of some improvements, ultimately led to its shutdown. Over time, the grounds fell into disrepair and most of the buildings disappeared.
Decades later, former workers, miners and local residents came together. Eventually they started to preserve the mining legacy, transforming the premises into a museum.
Today, we can spot the rebuilt headframe from afar. The site features reconstructed buildings, alongside original locomotives and coal tubs and a few remaining structures. The main building now houses a museum focused on Wallonia’s industrial revolution. It offers a lot of insights into coal mining, iron smelting, and heavy industry in Southern Belgium.
A Memorial to the Bois du Cazier Mining Disaster
Beneath the reconstructed headframe a memorial site honours the 262 victims of the 1956 mining accident, of whom 136 were Italians. And a few stairs up, visitors can see the control room. This is where the operator should have heard the pipe signals and stopped the elevator in time. A historical set-up with large machines and iron cables hauling the elevator is recreated in the room. But the walls are lined with images of Italian families, depicting their very Italian daily life. The museum relating to the mining accident of 8 August 1956 also recounts the story of the immigrant workers who lost their lives here. Apart from the Italians, most of the others were also foreigners. And it tells of the agony of the families outside the gates that day who had heard about the accident but could do nothing but wait for news.
Should you visit Charleroi and the Bois du Cazier coal mines?
Our visit to the Bois du Cazier coal mine was both educational and deeply moving. Despite Isa growing up in Cologne near the Belgian border and our previous visits to several coal mining sites in nearby Germany – like the Zollverein mine in Essen – we were unaware of the tragic and entirely avoidable accident that had taken place in Belgium previously. Learning about the history of this disaster gave us a new perspective on the region’s industrial past and its impact on local communities.
In addition to the coal mine, we spent some time exploring Charleroi. While it may not have the picturesque charm of cities like Brugge or Ghent, Charleroi has a distinct character. It is a lively city with a rich industrial heritage and a surprisingly diverse cultural scene. We found it to be a very authentic place. If you enjoy visiting cities with a more raw, real feel and have an interest in history, particularly industrial history, then Charleroi definitely has something to offer.
How to visit the Belgian Coal mines of Bois du Cazier
Charleroi is only about 50 km south of Brussels and an important transport hub. We have seen the name on trains, in Brussels, or during our visit to the Tintin museum in Louvaine-la-Neuve last year. Whenever we travel around Belgium it feels like every regional train is going to Charleroi. From Charleroi station, Bus #52 regularly leaves for Bois du Cazier – it is about a 30-minute ride. You don’t need to book a time slot for the Bois du Cazier mine, but bring some time since it is an extensive exhibition.
NB: We had no sponsorship for our trip to the Bois du Cazier mine. We planned the excursion alone and paid all expenses ourselves.
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Thanks a lot for this very interesting post! As a fan of Franco-Belgian comics, I was wondering if there were more sights refering to the “Marcinelle School” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcinelle_school) in the region.
There’s another Metro station – Parc – dedicated to numerous comic artists. Also, there used to be more sculptures, apparently, but some have disappeared. A newer Spirou is standing right in front of the station, though.
