[fr] 
[es]Hasard collieries, Cheratte
| Type | Country | Date | Status | Rating |
 Factory |  Belgium | 2005-02-02 | Abandoned | ** |
Photo of the mine shaft number 1,
depth 170m, dating from 1907.
The gothic Coal Mine...
The building of these collieries began in 1960. Closed in 1977, the coal mine in Cheratte belonging to 'Les Charbonnages du Hasard' still retained 600 miners, but during the production peaks this number was over 1500. It was the first coal exploitation electrically powered in Belgium.
Thirty years later, the site is still here, right in the middle of the small town of Cheratte. Everything has been left there, and the cultural heritage of this site is incredible. These abandoned places have been sold to a private owner that let sadly everything rust, although the site was listed as an historical monument in 1982.
Remains go from the miner safety helmet and gas mask to the workforce archives. Local associations fight for the rehabilitation of the site but unfortunately nothing happens.
The site itself is composed of nice medieval-like buildings. We visited it luckily on a sunny morning and enjoyed it. To explore it all, you would need a couple of days...
I would really love to go to several places mentioned at this website, but unfortunally the most of them are without any adres. Sometimes (but really rarely) at least with a map.
It would be great to have city, street / houseno. and roughly area discription.
My last trip to Liége cost too much time regarding to the fact that we had to asked at least 8-10 people to find the old barracks.
Thanks in advance.
What a nice walk down memory lane for my landlady to see her dad's workplace.