Mortuary

Unfortunately, fatal accidents regularly occurred during mining operations. This former Mortuary served to temporarily store the body of a deceased worker until they could be released for autopsy and burial. Whenever a body lay in the Mortuary, the light was lit. This informed the miners that one of their colleagues had suffered a fatal accident.

The Mortuary in Heusden-Zolder is the only one remaining from the Limburg mines. It has been given a special role in commemorating the mining past, partly due to Stefan Elsen’s art installation. This installation consists of a white block of Carrara marble suggesting the table on which the corpses were laid out, with a floating body of small mirrors above it. This symbolises the mirrors miners used to have in their lockers to check if their faces were clean enough to return to their families.

In the future, the Mortuary will get a complete facelift, with both the exterior and interior getting a new look and symbolism as a tribute to the deceased miners. The Mortuary remains an important monument that commemorates the many lives lost in the mines.