Welcome to the mini jungle in this old wool mill, where the old halls are slowly being reclaimed by nature. Ferns and little trees are enjoying the humidity in here and turned the old factory into a little oasis.
This wool mill was established in the late 19th century and shut down after almost 8 decades of production. A part of the production was already moved to a different location, which kept operating until the end of the century. Read More
Big industrial sites need a lot of energy. Sometimes it’s worth investing in an own power plant. In the 1940’s construction of this power plant started. Five turbines supplied power to the adjecent factory and in the 50’s one more turbine was added. 10 years later the big hall was expanded on the north side with space for one turbine and on the southern end with space for 2 turbines. Read More
This hall was part of a large chemical factory which settled here in the 20th century. The large factory occupies more than 10 hectares and even had its own power plant.
The machines in this hall were used to extract nitrogen from air. Some other halls are now being used for storage and some were opened up for sports clubs. Read More
In the early 20th century a paper mill was built. A small hydroelectric powerplant with two turbines was added to provide power. The paper mill and powerplant were active until the 1950’s.
The powerplant has a beautiful control panel made of (what looks like) marble plates with nicely decorated instruments. The back of the control panel has been gutted entirely but for the rest there were no traces of vandalism of any kind. Read More
These vehicles are called Sno-Cats; heavy machinery designed to withstand arctic conditions. They were used in the first Dutch-Belgian Antarctic expedition from 1964-1966.
The Belgians had been to Antarctica before, but money was a problem, so they asked the Dutch to participate. At first, the Netherlands didn’t feel like it, but eventually they agreed. On December 8, 1963 they left the harbour of Antwerp for their first expedition. Read More
This textile factory was built in the 1900’s. Wool was treated here using a American patented technique, it was the only factory in Europe using this method.
Wool was treated in special baths to retain flexibility and elasticity. The liquid of these baths could be refined to yield a wax which was used extensively for protection and treatment of skin. Some of the samples were still in the abandoned laboratory of the factory. Read More
This mine was built in the early 20th century by the state owned mining company. For representative purposes the buildings were built with red bricks, featuring curved facades.
Already in the 1920’s, the mine produced over 1 million tons of coal per year and at the start of the Second World War the mine saw an increasing demand of coal for use in the weapon and steel industry. After the war a new shaft was dug and the mine got modernized. Read More
In the 1850’s they started mining here, the coal mined was brought up with the hoist. From here, the minecarts rolled into a station where they were tipped over. The freshly mined material would then be transported into the processing plant where it would be washed and crushed into smaller chunks. From this facility, the coal was primarily transported to several blast furnaces. Read More
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