16 Best Sights in Mons, Western Wallonia

Ste. Waudru (Waltrude) is the patron saint of the city, and was known for her kindness to the poor. Her pageant is a key moment in the yearly Ducasse of Mons, where a lavish procession wheeling the Car d'Or, a gilded chariot carrying the reliquary of her remains, is pushed from the church into the town center and back. The rest of the year, the chariot and relics lie in this magnificent 15th-century Brabant-Gothic church, founded by the canonesses of Mons. Inside, it now has 29 chapels filled with artworks as well as a magnificent organ made in 1694.

Around 12 km (7½ miles) east of Mons, the Borinage yields one of its grandest visions. Many of the industrialists of the late-18th and 19th centuries built accommodation for their workers. These were typically squalid, pragmatic affairs, but the Grand-Hornu was different. It was the dream child of the French industrialist Henri de Gorge (1774–1832), who created a vast neoclassical hub for his workers in 1810. Its 450 homes were spacious, had hot water, and the facilities were plentiful. Workers had access to a school, clinic, dance hall, and library. In 1829, some 2,500 people lived here, but by 1954, the local mines had closed and the site was abandoned. It has since been restored and is now home to an acclaimed contemporary art museum, yet it's worth visiting just to see the grounds, encircled by redbrick arches like some industrial colosseum. This remains a curious anachronism, out of step with what was mostly a dehumanizing era for workers, and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2012.

This superb museum, set in an old water pumping station, views the history of Mons through the lens of the many battles fought over the city. You can't miss the M4 Sherman tank parked outside, with the words "In the mood" scrawled across its hull. It commemorates the day Allied forces rolled into town in 1944, when Mons became the first Belgium city to be liberated from German occupation in World War II. Certainly, for the past 500 years, Europe has been very much "in the mood" to fight over Mons. The museum chronicles this in dramatic detail, though the most engaging displays come from the 20th-century conflicts, where weapons, uniforms, memorabilia, and even VR experiences (there is a thrilling 360-degree re-creation of liberation day) immerse you in one of the darkest times in European history. 

This UNESCO-recognized endeavor tells a little-known story. At the dawn of the 20th century, a pair of human-rights lawyers, Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine (Belgium's only Nobel Peace Prize winner), had the idea for a paper database of all knowledge. They called it the Mundaneum. By 1972 it held 12 million bibliographic records (index cards). The building is now a fascinating museum. 

The city's premier art gallery is a blank slate: all white walls and glass. It was only built in 2015, when it opened with a retrospective on Van Gogh in the Borinage. Since then, temporary exhibitions tend to have only loose connections to the region and have ranged from the photography of Dave LaChapelle to the distorted paintings of Colombian artist Fernando Botero. 

The city's UNESCO-listed belfry is a beauty. On this site previously stood a clock tower, which housed a "workers bell" from 1382 that chimed the hours of the working day and warned of attacks. But by 1661, this had collapsed and a new blue-stone belfry was built on its site. The architect drew inspiration from a trip to Renaissance Italy, hence the Baroque style as opposed to the Gothic towers scattering the rest of Wallonia. Its crown of onion domes is especially beautiful, and beneath it is a carillon 49 bells strong. 

The heart of the city is a cobbled square wrapped in bar terraces and crowned by a grand Hôtel de Ville (town hall) dating back to the 15th century. This government building is Gothic in its soul, though the original alderman in charge of construction ran out of money before it was completed. It was only finished the following century, then modified again some 200 years later when a magnificent campanile was added, hence the abundance of architectural styles in its facade. 

In some ways, this is the museum of museums. The Artotheque is a former chapel that once belonged to Ursuline nuns; now it is home to the overflow collections of museums across the city. In essence, it's a would-be storage facility that has been opened to the public, with a series of exhibitions built around items from an array of art and cultural institutions that would otherwise just lie in a basement. It also delves into the art and science of museum work. It does have some eccentric opening hours, so plan your visit well. 

Mons is constantly evolving. Back in the Middle Ages, the river Trouille ran through this part of the city, which was known as the fisherman's quarter. By the mid-1800s, the then badly polluted river was diverted away from the city and sewers were installed. At the same time, a slaughterhouse was built here, designed in the Lombard style with a roomy courtyard. Even the streets took on their new theme, and nearby you can walk down Rue de la Grande Triperie (Street of Large Tripe). The slaughterhouse is long since gone, and in 2006 it was turned into an arts center for crafts and textiles. This is home to a permanent gallery and another with temporary exhibitions. 

This permanent sculpture on Place Roosevelt is the work of the 3D imaging artist David Mesguish, whose daughter is the focus of a piece ruminating on childhood innocence. The mirrored surface offers stark contrast with the grand Collégiale Sainte-Waudru de Mons church building behind it.    

Before he was a penniless painter, Dutchman Vincent van Gogh trained, like his father, in the clergy. By 1879, he was hired as an evangelist in the village of Wasmes. At the time, this was a tough working-class area. Van Gogh's poor rhetorical skills found little traction with locals. His contract wasn't renewed, and his worried parents advised him to find a profession better suited to his skills. Van Gogh instead doubled down: he cut off contact, and with financial assistance from his brother, Theo, managed to live in nearby Cuesmes and preach for free. His sketches from this time were formative, though a far cry from his later euphoric work. 

Owned by the University of Mons, this is the newest museum to open in the city. Its exhibitions delve into the building's history as a former chapel (complete with visitable crypt) and prison. However, at the time of visiting, it was still a work in progress. English explanations are due to be added in 2022 along with the bulk of the university's collection. A further permanent exhibition on the city's Freemasons will also arrive in 2023. 

One of the true gems of the city is also one of the few private museums, its collection assembled across a span of 50 years by a Belgian lawyer, François Duesberg, and his late wife. It focuses on two eras of French design, spanning 1775 to 1825, and delves particularly into the art movement known as "Empire," which grew in the early 19th century. It spawned some incredible objets d'art, which would have been the envy of high society at the time. 

If you're not lucky enough to be in the city at the time of the Ducasse du Mons (known locally as Doudou), its weeklong, largely drunken medieval festival, then this is the next best thing. The museum lends some cultural context to the battle of St. George and the dragon, which is retold and celebrated across Europe in myriad different ways, and fills in the details around the procession of Ste. Waudru. The building itself is just as interesting, having been built in the 17th century as a kind of pawnbroker-cum-bank, hence its sturdy, rather forbidding exterior.

The flint mines that lie 6 km (4 miles) outside the city were once a valuable resource to early humankind, its rock capable of being chipped into spearheads, knives, and tools. According to UNESCO, this is the largest and earliest mine of its type in Europe. Visits today descend by ladder into the chalky stone underbelly of the mines, accompanied by an archaeologist guide. 

The 1914 Battle of Mons was a bloody affair, in which British forces (some 75,000) found themselves up against a German army twice that size. It was the first engagement of the two opposing forces in World War I, and saw the British swiftly retreat by evening. Four years later, the same pair would meet in reverse as the Germans were forced from the city on the day the armistice was signed. In between, in 1916, a German soldier looking for a plot of land to commemorate his fallen comrades met a local botanist who agreed to help him on the sole condition that the cemetery would respect all nationalities. Thus, 284 German and 229 Commonwealth soldiers are buried here, including the unfortunate Canadian private George Price, who was killed just two minutes before the 11 am armistice. It makes for a moving, contemplative stroll.