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Theme Week Belgium – Charleroi in Wallonia

Thursday, 9 August 2012 - 01:30 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische Union
Category/Kategorie: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  3 minutes

🔊 Listen to this Post Charleroi is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut. As of 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593. The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of 1,462 square kilometres (564 sq mi) and had a total population of 522,522 as of 1 January 2008, ranking it as the fifth most populous in Belgium after Brussels, Antwerp, Liège and Ghent. The inhabitants are called Carolorégiens or simply Carolos. The municipality contains an industrial area, iron and steel industry, glassworks, chemicals, and electrical engineering. Charleroi is in the center of a coal basin, called Pays noir. Many slag heaps still surround the city. Dupuis is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics, located in Marcinelle.

Due to the widespread loss in industrial power in the area since the 1970s, Charleroi has suffered some of the highest unemployment and poverty rates in Europe for the better part of the 1980s and 1990s. However, since the early 2000s, the overall economy of the area has diversified to include healthcare, transportation and telecommunications.

Among the landmarks are:

• The belfry is included in the list of World Heritage Sites.
• The Maison Dorée was built in 1899 by the Art Nouveau architect Alfred Frère. The name of this masterpiece comes from the golden sgraffiti that adorn the façade.
• The city is home to several museums (fine arts, glass, et al).
• On the south west side of the city, in the Mont-sur-Marchienne district, there is a large photography museum.

Here you can find the complete Overview of all Theme Weeks.

Read more on City of Charleroi, Charleroi Tourism, Charleroi Airport, Musée de la Photographie, Charleroi Adventure, Wikitravel Charleroi and Wikipedia Charleroi. Learn more about the use of photos. To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facebook pages/Twitter accounts. In addition more and more destinations, tourist organizations and cultural institutions offer Apps for your Smart Phone or Tablet, to provide you with a mobile tourist guide (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.