County of Hainaut

Mons (French: [mɔ̃s] (listen); German and Dutch: Bergen, Dutch pronunciation: [ˈbɛrɣə(n)] (listen); Walloon and Picard: Mont) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the province of Hainaut, Belgium. Mons was made into a fortified city by Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut in the 12th century. The population grew quickly, trade flourished, and several commercial buildings were erected near the Grand’Place. In 1814, King William I of the Netherlands increased the fortifications, following the fall of the First French Empire. The Industrial Revolution and coal mining made Mons a centre of heavy industry. In 1830, Belgium gained its independence and the decision was made to dismantle the fortifications, allowing the creation of large boulevards and other urban projects. On 23–24 August 1914, Mons was the location of the Battle of Mons. The British were forced to retreat by a numerically superior German force and the town remained occupied by the Germans until its liberation by the Canadian Corps during the final days of the war. There are several memorial placards related to the WW1 battles. Today, the city is an important university town and commercial centre. The main square is the centre of the old city. It is paved in the manner of old cities and is home to many cafes and restaurants, as well as the town hall and belfry. It is forbidden to park in or drive through the centre. Together with the Czech city of Plzeň, Mons was the European Capital of Culture in 2015.

The Battle of Mons was the first major action of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in the First World War. It was a subsidiary action of the Battle of the Frontiers, in which the Allies clashed with Germany on the French borders. At Mons, the British Army attempted to hold the line of the Mons–Condé Canal against the advancing German 1st Army. Although the British fought well and inflicted disproportionate casualties on the numerically superior Germans, they were eventually forced to retreat due both to the greater strength of the Germans and the sudden retreat of the French Fifth Army, which exposed the British right flank. Though initially planned as a simple tactical withdrawal and executed in good order, the British retreat from Mons lasted for two weeks and took the BEF to the outskirts of Paris before it counter-attacked in concert with the French, at the Battle of the Marne.

The siege of Mons, 15 March–10 April 1691, was a major operation fought during the Nine Years' War, and was the main French objective for the 1691 campaign in the Spanish Netherlands. The city was besieged and captured before the normal commencement of the campaigning season with minimal losses. The outcome was not in doubt, but in a conflict dominated by siege warfare, neither the French army of King Louis XIV, nor the forces of the Grand Alliance under King William III, could bring about a decisive battle. After the siege the duc de Boufflers bombarded the neutral city of Liège, whilst the duc de Luxembourg captured Halle, and scored a minor victory against the Prince of Waldeck at the Battle of Leuze in September. Strategically, however, little had changed in the war, and both combatants returned to winter quarters at the end of the campaigning season.

The siege of Mons of 1572 took place at Mons, capital of the County of Hainaut, Spanish Netherlands (present-day Belgium), between 23 June and 19 September 1572, as part of the Eighty Years' War, the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604), and the French Wars of Religion. In the spring of 1572, after the capture of Valenciennes by a Protestant force under Louis of Nassau, the Dutch commander continued with his offensive and took Mons by surprise on 24 May. After three months of siege, and the defeats of the armies of Jean de Hangest, seigneur d'Yvoy and Genlis, and William the Silent, Prince of Orange (Dutch: Willem van Oranje), by the Spanish army led by Don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba ("The Iron Duke"), Governor-General of the Spanish Netherlands, and his son, Don Fadrique de Toledo, Louis of Nassau's forces, isolated and without any hope of help, surrendered Mons to the Duke of Alba on 19 September.

The Faculty of Engineering of UMons (French: Faculté Polytechnique de Mons (FPMs)) is a faculty of engineering at the University of Mons in the Wallonia region in Belgium.Before the 2009 merger of the Faculté Polytechnique de Mons and the University of Mons-Hainaut, the FPMs was the oldest university of the city of Mons and the first civil Engineering school in Belgium (1836). Its first name was École des Mines (Mining School). It is a member of the Top Industrial Managers for Europe (TIME) network, an association of 50 leading engineering schools and faculties in Europe. On January 1, 2009, the Engineering Faculty of Mons and the University of Mons-Hainaut merged into a new university called the University of Mons (UMons). The Faculty organizes a five-year course and delivers the Engineering (Ir.) and Master of Science (MSc.) degree. An Applied Sciences Doctoral degree (Dr.) is also available at the FPMs.

Saint Waltrude Collegiate Church (French: Collégiale Sainte-Waudru) is a Roman Catholic parish church in Mons, Belgium, named in honour of Saint Waltrude. The church is a notable example of Gothic architecture, and is protected by the heritage register of Wallonia.

The Belfry of Mons (French: Beffroi de Mons) is one of the more recent among the belfries of Belgium and France. At a height of 87 metres (285 ft), it dominates the city of Mons, Belgium, which is itself constructed on a hill. This belfry, classified in Belgium since 15 January 1936, belongs to the major cultural patrimony of Wallonia. It was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List on 1 December 1999, for its unique architecture, civic importance, and testimony to the birth of municipal influence and power in the area. It is the only one in Belgium that is constructed in Baroque style.

Museum François Duesberg was opened on 21 September 1994 and is devoted to decorative arts from the period 1775 to 1825. The museum is located in Mons (Hainaut) opposite the collegiate Saint Waltrude Church in the former buildings of the National Bank of Belgium. It houses a large collection of objects in perfect condition: it has a prestigious collection of clocks and mantel clocks, exceptional gilded French bronzes, porcelain (mainly from Paris and Brussels), pottery, jewelry (including the famous Mons-punch), and numerous items of similar quality. It was founded by François Duesberg and his wife Betty whose collections focus on the periods of Louis XVI, that of Charles X of France and of the First French Empire under Napoleon.

Mons Memorial Museum (MMM) is a museum located in Mons, Hainaut Province in Belgium focusing on the history of the military history of the region in World War I and World War II. Formerly known as the Museum of Military History of Mons (French: Musée d’Histoire militaire de Mons), the museum was opened in 2015 in the year that Mons was a joint European Capital of Culture. It is located in the former municipal water pumping station known as the Machine-à-Eau (lit. 'water machine') built in 1871 which was extended as part of the museum project. The museum's permanent collection includes more than 5,000 artefacts and is displayed over 1,200 square metres (13,000 sq ft). It also hosts regular temporary exhibitions.

The Maison Losseau is an Art Nouveau private house located in Mons, Belgium. Dating from the 18th century, it was renovated in Art Nouveau style in the early 1900s at the request of Léon Losseau by Paul Saintenoy. It is listed on the list of the exceptional heritage site of Wallonia and since 2015 houses a center for the interpretation of Léon Losseau's collections and regional literature. The house is located at number 37 rue de Nimy in Mons, next to the courthouse.

Collège Saint-Stanislas is a mixed Catholic secondary school in Mons, Belgium. It was founded in 1851 by the Jesuits. It is located on Rue des Dominicains in the centre of Mons. Despite some disruption during the two world wars, the college has continued to have classes over the entire course of its history.

Notre Dame du Val des Écoliers was a monastery of Augustinian canons regular in the city of Mons, Belgium, founded as a priory in 1252 at the invitation of Margaret, Countess of Hainaut. It became an abbey in 1617 and was suppressed in 1796, during the French period. The buildings were later used as an arsenal, a meeting hall, a warehouse, a factory, and a hospital, but were allowed to decay into considerable disrepair. Most of the old buildings were demolished in 1876, but one tower remained and was restored in 1892. It was classified as a monument in 1955 and is now a landmark. The monastic ruins were investigated by archaeologists in 2021 prior to being cleared to make way for an underground carpark and office space. Initially expected to last a month, the dig would ultimately run from March to July, and exhumed about sixty sets of human remains dating from the 14th and 15th centuries.