A visit to this “workshop of local memory” reveals some thirty trades represented by a multitude of tools and objects, mainly from the 19th and 20th centuries. All these antique pieces bear witness to an ingenious but also painstaking past. They were created by men and women, using their hands, their intelligence and their know-how.
At the Musée d’Hastière, the working techniques and tools of the past are presented in several categories of thematic collections:
– rural life: stonemasons, bricklayers, blacksmiths, tinsmiths, slate quarrymen, woodcutters, joiners, wheelwrights, plumbers, shoemakers, clog makers, bakers, butchers, cooks, beekeepers, farmers, etc.
– life on the river: barge stevedores, fishermen, lock-keepers and manual dam operators at Hastière and Waulsort, etc.
– Industrial life: a look back at local industries such as Céramanova in Waulsort and the Fabrique des Crayons Gilbert in Hastière, as well as the old spinning mill, the “L’Abeille” brewery, the “Sambre et Dyle” sand processing plant in Hastière-Lavaux, etc.
A visit to the Hastièrois Museum is a truly enriching experience for everyone, from the elderly, who rediscover traces of their childhood, to the young, who discover the ingenuity and hard work of their ancestors.
Information and guided tours of the “Maison du Patrimoine d’Hastière” :
Jonathan Porignaux – rue Marcel Lespagne 70 à 5540 Hastière-Lavaux. 082 64 46 22 ou 0474 42 39 99
