Grand Hornu

Le Grand Hornu is a district with a monumental site of a former industrial village, eight kilometers west-southwest from the center of Mons in Hainaut in Belgium. It was built in 1820-1830, designed by Bruno Renard ( 1781-1861 ), from the mine owners Henri de George Legrand ( 1774-1832 ).

Le Grand Hornu is a pattern of functional urban planning in the industrial age. At the oval complex in the center include the former workers' quarters (425 apartment buildings in a garden city), offices, shops, hay shed, stables, workshops, a former sugar factory and memory as well as the Château Bossu, the mansion of the family. The architecture of the built of brick buildings is dominated by neo-classical elements. Once in the 1950s, the mines of Borinage were shut down, fell into the complex. Now privately owned and is restored Le Grand Hornu one of the most important monuments of the industrial age in Europe.