Mons Attractions

(Jardins du Mayeur)

(Near 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.

Typical Visit

1 hour

Cuesmes - Van Gogh House

On the edge of the forest stands a little mining cottage where van Gogh occupied a room; this is filled with documents and reproductions of his paintings (no originals).
Van Gogh lived here from 1879 to 1880.

Address

Mons Tourist Office
Grand-Place 22
B-7000 Mons
Belgium

http://www.mons.be

Hours

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
Open	Closed	10:00	10:00	10:00	10:00	10:00	10:00
Close		18:00	18:00	18:00	18:00	18:00	18:00

Disabled

Full facilities for persons with disabilities.

Decorative Arts Museum Francois Duesberg

A museum with a collection of clocks dating from the 18th century and other decorative arts like porcelain and silverworks.

Address

Francois Duesberg Decorative Arts Museum
Square Franklin Roosevelt 12
B-7000 Mons
Belgium

Hours

April 1 to December 31

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
Open	Closed	14:00	Closed	14:00	Closed	14:00	14:00
Close		19:00		19:00		19:00	19:00

Disabled

Full facilities for persons with disabilities.

Guides

Guided tour available as optional extra.

Ducasse de la Trinité

This annual religious event takes place on Trinity Sunday (the first Sunday after Pentecost). Parades and processions celebrate the city's deliverance from the Plague in 1349. An 18th century carriage is drawn by white horses throughout the streets of the town, carrying the relics of Saint Waudru. The saint's skull is carried in a silver reliquary by dozens of girls dressed in Belgian lace.

Read More Jardins du Mayeur

Junk Market

A junk market is held on the Place du Béguinage.

Hours

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
Open	Closed	Closed	Closed	Closed	Closed	Closed	9:00
Close							11:00

Tips

Open Sunday mornings, listed times are suggested visiting times.

Typical Visit

1 hour

La Borinage

To the south and southwest of Mons stretches the coal field of the Borinage. In spite of the decline of Belgian mining, there are still winding towers and a workers' settlement to be seen amid the high slag heaps, the so-called "terils".

Typical Visit

4 hours

Museum of Natural History

The Natural History Museum is situated northwest of the City Hall in the Rue des Gaillers. Here can be seen numerous articles of geology, zoology, botany and other scientific disciplines.

Hours

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
Open	Closed	Closed	Closed	Closed	Closed	8:30	Closed
Close						12:00
Open						13:00
Close						17:00

Typical Visit

1 hour

Musée du Chanoine Puissant

This museum is situated a little north of the Collégiale Ste-Waudru and is in two buildings: the so-called "Vieux Logis" a brick building of 1550, and the Chapelle Ste-Marguerite (13th C.). On display is the art collection of Canon Edmont Puissant, who made this over to the town in 1930, with pictures, furniture and other interior items as well as the canon's library which includes a Gutenberg bible.

Address

Canon Puissant Museum
Notre Dame Debonaire 22
B-7000 Mons
Belgium

Hours

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
Open	Closed	10:00	10:00	10:00	10:00	10:00	14:00
Close		18:00	18:00	18:00	18:00	18:00	18:00

Tips

Combination ticket for visits to other local museums available. Groups can vist privately on Mondays and Tuesday mornings upon request.

Typical Visit

1 hour

Parc du Roeulx

A walled rose garden at this 18th C. house is the primary interest on the estate.

Hours

April 8 to September 30

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
Open	10:00	10:00	Closed	10:00	10:00	10:00	10:00
Close	12:00	12:00		12:00	12:00	12:00	12:00
Open	13:30	13:30		13:30	13:30	13:30	13:30
Close	18:00	18:00		18:00	18:00	18:00	18:00

Roisin, Belgium

(Near Mons)

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.

Typical Visit

1 hour

Saint Ghislain - International Folklore Festival, Belgium

(Near Mons)

Saint Ghislain has an annual festival that takes place in late May.

Address

CIOFF Festivals of Belgium
Sparrenlaan 9
B-2900 Schoten
Belgium

Facilities

Restaurant or food service

Soignes, Belgium

(Near Mons)

Soignes, 19km/12mi northeast of Mons, arose around an abbey founded in 650 by St Vincentius. Its heavy reliquary, weighing 250kg/551lbs, is carried every Whitsun in a great procession through the town.

Typical Visit

3 hours

Collegiale Saint-Vincent

(Mons)

The building of this massive church dedicated to St Vincent and in the style of Scheldt Romanesque was begun in 965 and completed in the 13th C. Both bays of the choir contain the oldest cross-ribbed vault in Belgium (believed 11th C.). The interior of the church with its two rows of arcades and its gallery is similar to that of the cathedral at Tournai. The most impressive items are undoubtedly the sculpture, the Renaissance choir screen made of marble and stucco, an interment scene in the ambulatory (15th C.), a "Nursing Virgin" (14th C.), and the Baroque choirstalls and pulpit. The great 19th C. shrine of the saint stands in the choir. In the Chapel of St Hubert in the south wall is kept the treasury.

Typical Visit

1 hour

Soignes - Collégiale Saint-Vincent Archeological Museum

The old cemetery, not far from the church, is a public park in which can be seen a Romanesque chapel which is now an archaeological museum.

Typical Visit

30 minutes

Soignes - Culture House of Soignes

In the Culture House of Soignes is an apothecary museum and a photography museum.

Typical Visit

30 minutes

Spiennes, Belgium

(Near Mons)

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.

Typical Visit

1 hour

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