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lifts on the old Canal du Centre
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How it came to be
Hainaut in southern Belgium grew rich on coal but had few natural waterways to carry it away. Digging of the Canal du Centre, linking the basins of the Meuse and the Scheldt, began in 1884, and the canal opened to shipping in 1917.
Along a 7-kilometre stretch the water rises 66.2 metres. To climb it, four boat lifts powered only by water were built: two caissons, each on an iron column, so that one rises as the other descends. The first, at Houdeng-Goegnies, opened in 1888, and the other three in 1917.
Of the eight hydraulic boat lifts built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, these four are the only ones still working in their original form. Commercial traffic now uses the giant Strépy-Thieu lift, and the old lifts carry leisure boats. They were inscribed in 1998.
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