Museum of Brussels of industry and work

The Museum of Brussels of industry and work , founded by Guido Vanderhulst is installed with Molenbeek-Saint-Jean (Brussels) in a district with last strongly marked by industrialization proposes an original approach of the history of work in Région of Brussels-Capital. The buildings old seat of an important foundry, the Compagnie of Bronzes , recently restored are worth the turning alone. The Musée of the Foundry preserves important collections of machines and tools and important files on various supports. It does not present permanent exposures, but temporary exhibitions

The museum is the emanation of the Foundry - Center of Economic and Social History of the Area Of Brussels , which proposes an information center and of research, publications, as well as courses discovered urban and harbor of the industrial history of Brussels.

The access to the officially agreed museums of the French Communauté is free each first Sunday of the month, starting from May 1st 2006. The Museum of Brussels of industry and work belongs to the museums concerned with this measurement.

The Company of Bronzes

The foundation of the company of bronzes goes back to 1854. It is in 1862 that it installs part of its workshops street Ransfort in Molenbeek. Specialized at the origin in the manufacture and the placement of apparatuses of public lighting, it directs starting from 1870 towards the cast iron of monumental bronze and works of art. This last activity enables him to acquire an international reputation, some of its achievements are found in the whole world. Many monuments of Brussels important leave its workshops, one owes him inter alia, the cast iron of the statues of the Small Fine sand, the equestrian statues of Léopold II (place of the Throne) and of Albert Ier (Mount of Arts), of the monumental doors of the Law courts or the monument of Everard you Serclaes close to the Grand-Place.

From the Years 1950, the orders start to be done rare, the company reduces little by little its activities, until the day of the last casting in 1977 and the setting in bankruptcy supplements two years later.

The Foundry asbl

Inhabitants of the district join then historians, architects and trade-union activists to safeguard the places and to revitalize the district in the Projet foundry of the old man Molenbeek . After having obtained the acquisition of the site by the the French Community in 1982, they constitute the Non-profit-making association the Foundry , responsible for the installation of a museum of the social and industrial history of the Région of Brussels-Capital.

In addition to the museum, the Foundry achieved an important work of harvest and conservation of objects and tools, as well as testimonys, documents, photographs and works relating to the history of the industrial inheritance, housing, trade unionism and urbanization of the city, accessible in its information center. Association played a big role in the safeguarding of the site of Tour and Taxis.

Courses of the Foundry

Among its activities, the Foundry proposes a series of pedestrian courses guided through various districts of Brussels-city and Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, centered on the discovery of the social and architectural evolution of the city from the point of view of the commercial activities and industrial.

The boat, the Gueuse allows the visit of the various basins of the Port of Brussels and its channels, the Canal of Charleroi in the south and the Canal of Willebroek in north.

Publications

The center publishes a semi-annual review, the books of the Foundry as well as files sets of themes.

External bond

the Foundry

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