Mijnmuseum

Mijnmuseum in Beringen-Mijn is a coal mining museum built on the grounds of the former coal mine of Beringen, in the Belgian province of Limburg. It sits in the Koersel district, next to the old mining neighbourhood of Beringen-Mijn, as part of the larger post-industrial site known as be-MINE.

Where did the Beringen mine come from?

Test borings carried out in 1902 and 1903 confirmed the presence of coal deposits around the villages of Beverlo, Beringen, Koersel and Paal. On the strength of those findings, a concession for the so-called Beeringen-Coursel area was granted on 26 November 1906, and it was later extended in 1954. The operating company, Société anonyme Charbonnages de Beeringen, was founded in 1907 to run the extraction. Over more than eight decades of activity, the mine employed close to 7,000 people at its peak. It closed in 1989, marking the end of coal mining in this part of Limburg.

How did the museum come about?

A mine museum was first established on the site in 1986. Over time it grew into a regional institution covering the history of coal mining across Flemish Limburg as a whole, rather than just the Beringen site itself. A substantially renewed, far more interactive version of the museum opened in April 2012. Its exhibition relies on testimonials from former miners, a large touchscreen installation, and extensive audio and video material that recreate what daily work underground actually looked like.

What can visitors see on site?

One of the main draws is an underground simulation, toured with a guide - often a former miner - who describes first-hand what working at the coal face was like. The former mine grounds themselves cover roughly 100,000 square metres of preserved industrial buildings, making it the largest industrial heritage site in Flanders and one of only a few this well preserved anywhere in Europe. Most of the original mining buildings still stand and are protected as heritage, giving visitors a genuine sense of what a typical Limburg coal mine once looked like.

What is be-MINE?

The whole former mining site now operates under the name be-MINE and has been redeveloped into a tourism and recreation complex. Alongside the Mijnmuseum itself, the grounds include event spaces, a swimming pool, an indoor diving centre, a climbing centre, an adventure hill with a playground, and a mountain bike trail running up to the top of the site's slag heap (terril). The mining museum is therefore just one part - albeit the historically central one - of a much broader set of attractions on the site today.

Frequently asked questions

Where exactly is the Mijnmuseum located? In the Koersel district, on the grounds of the former coal mine in Beringen, Limburg province, within the be-MINE complex.

When was the mine that the museum is built around in operation? The concession was granted in 1906, extraction ran through most of the 20th century, and the mine closed in 1989.

Can visitors go underground? Yes, the museum offers a guided underground simulation, often led by a former miner.

Are there other attractions on site besides the museum? Yes, the wider be-MINE site includes a swimming pool, a diving centre, a climbing wall and mountain bike trails on the slag heap.