cheratte

"Le Hasard", Coalmine of Cheratte

Pictures taken early 1996

The Hasard mine is one of the best preserved abandoned mines in Belgium. Interesting architecture, all areas accesible and buildings in good shape.
As with most mines this is an extremely dangerous place with uncovered, hidden holes and possibly unstable structures. You may never be found back if you go missing here !

The first buildings of the "Charbonnage du Hasard" date back to 1860. The mine was closed in 1977.

This place is rather difficult to access. I drove up to the old headgear (black and white picture) where you must hack your way through the dense bushes down the hill. Be carefull for hidden holes on your way down the hill, some of them may lead straight into the mine galleries below.


	The oldest headgear, up the hill (visible from the highway).		view from the new headgear upon the old buildings. remark the prison-type architecture.


	you can walk around for hours in this place		a look on the inside of the prison-type building. The roofs have been fixed so the place is dry and not deteriorating anymore.

Inside of the prison-type headgear you can still find the machinery that was used to pull up the coal from the galleries. The electric engines were made in Belgium.

This mine is located in the French speaking part of Belgium and most documents I found were in French. However the nationalities of the miners at that time was very diverse. In the union-meeting room I found all documents for the miners translated in Dutch, Italian, Greec and Turkish.


	So many boots and gloves were left behind, as if the mine had been abandoned in panic		Tons of paper ... I found some documents that dated back to 1927.

Entering the galleries is probably the stupidest thing you can do : after a few meters there is no more sound or light, the galleries split and become a labyrinth, the ribs are corroded and have collapsed at many places (avoid sneezing here). The air is hot and damp and has a strange smell. If something would happen to you here no one would hear you and if you'd still be alive you'd probably starve before they find you.

The black and white gallery

The Mine in 2001

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