Travel Guide Mons

A city of heritage and creativity, Mons is a town of 96,000 inhabitants at the heart of a conurbation of 260,000. In less than a decade, the Mons landscape has taken on new contours, not least when the city became European Capital of Culture in 2015. This was an opportunity to turn the page on its tarnished image as an industrial wasteland and the poorest region in Wallonia. The city was completely re-polished, and rehabilitation and reconstruction projects were launched. Mons inaugurated five new interconnected museums, centralizing its art collections and developing memorial tourism with the Saint-Symphorien cemetery and the Mons Memorial Museum. The city has also set about integrating new architecture into historic districts. The movement began with the interior renovation of the Maison Folie and the Fine Arts Museum (BAM). A new Maison du Design and an art deposit center were built on the site of the former abattoir, followed by the revitalization of three neighborhoods. Around the Théâtre du Manège, a "cultural mile" is being developed, including a venue dedicated to emerging music, Arsonic. On the socio-economic front, the city has also developed with the MICX convention center.