186 BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG REGION BY REGION
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp268–9 and pp294–5
Coat of arms at
Soignies’s churchThe control tower rising above the
plan incliné at RonquièresSoignies 7
30 km (19 miles) E of Beloeil.
Road Map C3. * 25,000. £ @
n Rue du Lombard 2; (067) 347376.
The agreeable little town of
Soignies was once surrounded
by woods linked to the Forêt
Château de
Beloeil 6
Rue du Château 11; 10 km (6 miles)
SW of Attre. Road Map B3.
Tel (069) 689426. @ # Easter–
Apr: 1–6pm Sat and Sun; May–Sep:
1–6pm daily. & 9 http://www.
chateaudebeloeil.com
Standing on a site that has
been home to the eminent
princes de Ligne since the 14th
cen tury, Beloeil is a moated
château built originally in the
16th century. Until the French
Revolutionary Army took over
in 1792, it was the domain of
Charles-Joseph Lamoral, 7th
Prince de Ligne (1735–1814).
Field marshal, diplomat and a
close confidant of Joseph II of
Austria, he was at the courts
of France and Russia and inter-
acted with many of the lead ing
political figures of his day.
Château de Beloeil was
remodel led in the French
style during the 17th and
18th centuries with Versailles-
like grandeur, but a disas trous
fire in 1900 badly damaged
the central block. The recon-
structed chât eau displays
furniture, tapestries, paint ings
and a 20,000-volume lib rary.
An enor mous artificial water
basin, parklands and formal
gardens lie outside.
Stately avenues leading up to the grand Château de Beloeil, set in green parkland
Plan Incliné de
Ronquières 8Route Baccara 1; 14 km (9 miles)
NE of Soignies. Road Map C3.
Tel (078) 059059. # mid-Mar–Oct:
10am–7pm (last entry 5pm). & 8
May–mid-Sep: Sun (boat trips). 9
7 http://voiesdeau.hainaut.beModern canal engineering
has achieved some impressive
feats in the region.
One of the most inter-
esting struc tures is on
the Brussels–Charleroi
canal at Ronquières.
Boats weighing up to
1,350 tonnes (1,500
tons) can nego tiate a
dif fer ence in the canal
levels of 68 m (221 ft)
in a single oper ation, by using
an ingenious trans porter lock.
Called the plan incliné (liter-
ally, inclined plane), this is a
slop ing boat lift almost 1.5 km
(1 mile) long. Boats enter one
of the two vast water-filled
con tainers at either end of the
plan incliné. The contain ers
then ride on rollers through
the length of the canal lift.
When it was completed
in 1968, the lift reduced
the time taken by barges
to travel between Charleroi
and Brussels by some seven
hours. To the north, the canal
follows a 300-m (984-ft) long
aque duct. A visitors’ centre
in the soaring control tower
explains the system through
an audio visual presen tation.
Glass footbridges allow a
bird’s-eye view of the opera-
tions of this colossal mach ine
and the land scape. Visitors
can also take boat trips
through the plan incliné.de Soignes (see p165) near
Brussels. It later became well
known for its blue limestone
quarries. Today, its great treas-
ure is the robust Collégiale
St-Vincent, named after St
Vincent Madelgaire, Governor
of Hainaut, husband of St
Waudru of Mons and founder
of an abbey built here in
AD 650. The church was
built between the 10th and
13th centuries, largely
in Romanesque style.
The pastel interior is
impres sive for its scale
and under stated style.
It has a poly chrome
14th-century statue of
the Virgin and Child,
in a niche beneath the
mar ble rood loft, as
well as carved Renaissance
choir stalls dating from 1576.R Collégiale St-Vincent
Grand Place. Tel (067) 331210.
# Apr–Sep: 8am–6pm daily;
Oct–Mar: 8am–5pm daily.