The Bois du Cazier was coal mine in Marcinelle, Charleroi. It was the scene of a mining disaster on 8 August 1956, when 263 men including 136 migrant Italian labourers lost their lives. The site today hosts a woodland park, memorial to the miners, the pit head, an industry museum and a glass museum. The museum is an Anchor point on the European Route of Industrial Heritage.
A concession to mine was given by royal decree on 30 September 1822. A transcription error caused the name of the site to be changed from Bois de Cazier. There were two shafts reaching 765 et 1035 mètres. A third shaft, 'Foraky', was being dug in 1956. At that time (1955), annual production was 170,557 tonnes for a total of 779 workers, many of whom were not Belgian but migrant workers principally from Italy. On the 8 August 1956, a fire destroyed the mine. Full production resumed the following year. The company was liquidated in January 1961, and the mine closed in December 1967.
There is a memorial wall to the disaster and a museum of mining and heavy industry. A workshop explains the art of metal forging. Around the two puits (shafts) the site has been landscaped- allowing views from the slag heaps over Charleroi.
Bois du Cazier is one of coal mines described as UNESCO World Heritage Site of Major Mining Sites of Wallonia.
References:Rosenborg Palace was built in the period 1606-34 as Christian IV’s summerhouse just outside the ramparts of Copenhagen. Christian IV was very fond of the palace and often stayed at the castle when he resided in Copenhagen, and it was here that he died in 1648. After his death, the palace passed to his son King Frederik III, who together with his queen, Sophie Amalie, carried out several types of modernisation.
The last king who used the place as a residence was Frederik IV, and around 1720, Rosenborg was abandoned in favor of Frederiksborg Palace.Through the 1700s, considerable art treasures were collected at Rosenborg Castle, among other things items from the estates of deceased royalty and from Christiansborg after the fire there in 1794.
Soon the idea of a museum arose, and that was realised in 1833, which is The Royal Danish Collection’s official year of establishment.