Belval Blast Furnaces

About this place

The Belval Blast Furnaces are the remains of a huge steelworks in southwest Luxembourg, their rusting towers and pipes now standing among modern University of Luxembourg buildings. They offer the rare sight of a science city growing around an industrial monument, and they are a leading landmark of the country's iron and steel heritage. A German company built the Adolf-Emil works between 1909 and 1912, later part of ARBED, founded in 1911. On 30 April 1953 Jean Monnet, President of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community, activated the first European steel casting here. Blast furnace A was fired in 1965 with a daily capacity of 2,300 tonnes, furnace B in 1970 with 3,000 tonnes, and furnace C in 1979. In 1994 ARBED chose to switch to electric arc furnaces, which ended the blast furnace era here. You see dark iron cylinders, stairs and metal bridges above the streets, with towers lit in blue and red at night on some occasions. Walkways pass between rusted iron, grasses and water at the base. Guided tours take you inside the site, combining the story of the industry with the redevelopment into the City of Science. The furnaces lie about 18.1 km from Luxembourg City and 7 km from the National Mining Museum in a straight line, served by the Belval railway stations. Tours run on set dates, often Sundays, so book ahead and wear closed shoes for the metal stairs. You can see the site from the street at any time.