Surroundings, Mons

Vincent van Gogh lived in Cuesmes, 3km/2miles south of Mons, as a worker-priest among the miners of the Borinage from the summer of 1879 to the autumn of 1880 before he finally turned to painting.

Hornu lies 10km/6miles to the west of Mons and is the oldest mining village of the Borinage. Here between 1814 and 1832 the industrialist Henri de Gorge put into operation his ideas, which were revolutionary for that time, for the unity of work and residence. The working complex of "Grand Hornu", now a protected monument, consisted of the mine, iron foundry, engineering offices, schools, a hospital, public squares, and 400 houses for workers. With an elliptical central square, around which were grouped the offices. Each worker's house had its own garden and the whole complex was financed by Henri de Gorge. In 1829 there were 2,500 people in "Grand Hornu".

Right in the southwestern tip of the Borinage lies the village of Roisin and nearby in a house by the rock "Caillou-qui-bique" the poet Emile Verhaeren spent the last 15 years of his life. Mementos of the poet can be seen in the house.

The finds in the "Camp à Cayaux", 6km/3.75miles from Mons near Spiennes, which can be seen in the little museum, prove that coal was being dug in the Borinage as long ago as the Stone Age.

The airfield serving SHAPE, the NATO headquarters in nearby Casteau, lies to the southeast of Chièvre.

An open-air museum and reconstructed village that covers the ancient history of Belgium from the Neolithic age to Gallic era.