John Cockerill's Tomb in Seraing, Belgium

Seraing is a town located to the south-west of Liège, on the banks of the Meuse. Its name immediately evokes industry. It is famous for its Cristallerie du Val-Saint-Lambert and its steelworks, now owned by CMI (Cockerill Maintenance & Ingénierie). These factories cover a large part of the lower part of the town (in the meander of the Meuse) and are still called "Usines Cockerill" by the locals. Indeed, the company and factories are those founded in 1817 by British industrialist John Cockerill.

John Cockerill was the son of a textile manufacturer. He and his brothers used the family fortune to buy the Château de Seraing (the summer residence of the prince-bishop of Liège). There they diversified production, with the construction of the first coke blast furnace in 1821. In 1823, John Cockerill bought out the shares held by his brother and became the sole owner of the company. The company, which was already leading in textile machinery, gradually became a leading steelmaker. It was thanks to Cockerill that Liège became the first city on the continent to experience the Industrial Revolution. In the second quarter of the 19th century, after the Belgian Revolution, the industry he had created would make Belgium the second-largest power in the world, after Great Britain.

On 9 June 1840, John Cockerill died of typhus in Warsaw. His embalmed body was only returned to the cemetery at Seraing in 1867. His return was a catalyst for the idea of a public monument in his honour. Armand Cattier's design was chosen after a competition was held in 1868. The unveiling of the monument was on 22 October 1871 in front of the town hall in Seraing. The industrialist is depicted standing on a high pedestal. However, the originality of the monument lies in the fact that it is framed by 4 sculptures of workers representing the main trades present in the factory at the time of its creation. On the 14th of September 1947, his mortal remains were finally laid to rest in the crypt in front of the monument.

Behind this idyllic homage lies a darker reality: between the monument and the town hall, a graduated column bears the dates of several major floods. What is most disturbing, however, is that level 0 is located above the ground level. The age and origin of this column are a mystery, but the main piece of information it contains is still true: the centre of Seraing is permanently below the level of the Meuse... and John Cockerill had a hand in it.

Large quantities of coal were needed to run Cockerill's factories. Their location is ideal: the Meuse valley is rich in coal. As a result of the mining of large quantities of rock, the ground level in the area was gradually lowered. As Seraing was built in a meander of the river - not very high compared to the river - flooding became more frequent. Some streets, which were generally spared from flooding, began to be flooded several times a year at the beginning of the 20th century. They started building a wall against the river, but now the water behind the wall had to be evacuated. In September 1925, it was decided to drain mud and water, a project called the "Démergement" (a term borrowed from the navy to describe the process of draining water from the bottom of a ship). A high wall was built and pumps pumped the water back into the river.

The project came too late. On 31 December 1925, during a hundred-year flood, the wall gave way and the water flooded the city centre. The damage was enormous, although the number of victims is unknown. Work was accelerated on the "démergement". The city sank further and further below the river. Today, if the pumps were stopped, it is estimated that the water level would rise in the basements within 6-8 hours and invade the streets within 24 hours.

It's a cruel twist of fate for the tomb of John Cockerill. The man who unknowingly caused the town to sink below the level of the river now finds himself threatened along with it! His tomb is now dependent on the constant operation of the pumps to keep it from disappearing under the waters of the river Meuse. Even worse, his statue is condemned to stare for all eternity at the wall, several metres high, that separates the city from the river (as a metaphor for the broken link between the Meuse and the summer residence of the prince-bishops of Liège, which was built here a few centuries ago...).