Lifts on the Old Canal du Centre

La Louvière, Belgium

The lifts on the old Canal du Centre are a series of four hydraulic boat lifts near the town of La Louvière, classified both as Wallonia"s Major Heritage and as a World Heritage Site. Along a particular 7km stretch of the Canal du Centre, which connects the river basins of the Meuse and the Scheldt, the water level rises by 66.2 metres. To overcome this difference, the 15.4-metre lift at Houdeng-Goegnies was opened in 1888, and the other three lifts, each with a 16.93 metres rise, opened in 1917. These lifts were designed by Edwin Clark of the British company Clark, Stansfield & Clark.

The lifts were part of the inspiration behind the Peterborough and Kirkfield Lift Locks in Canada. In the late 19th century Richard Birdsall Rogers visited the locks as to understand and study possible ideas for a lift lock system.

These industrial monuments were designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1998. Of the eight hydraulic lift locks built in the late 19th and early 20th century, the four of the Canal du Centre are the only ones still functioning in their original form.

Since 2002, operation of the lifts has been limited to recreational use. Commercial traffic now bypasses the old lifts and is handled by the enormous Strépy-Thieu boat lift, whose rise of 73m was the highest in the world upon completion.

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Founded: 1888-1917
Category: Miscellaneous historic sites in Belgium

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4.4/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Marek Sopko (2 years ago)
old, gloomy, dirt, strange parking, sidewalk for skates only on one side, water is green? but lift is nice, interesting technical monument, this place is nice for sundays walkings, but with a little bit more people
Geert De Keyser (2 years ago)
Phantastic piece of art work!
A. Guzber (2 years ago)
When you think about it... More than a hundred years old!
Michel Vervenne (2 years ago)
Lovely place to walk with your children!
Maya Mortier (3 years ago)
Really nice with a beautiful cycle path along the canal, really worth a long cycle ride!
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