'The Silence', monument to the miners of Marcinelle.

This sculpture by artist Roger De Haes was erected in 2006 to commemorate the Marcinelle mining disaster (1956). The artist would describe his creation as follows: 'Two miners, survived the disaster, sitting on coal and leaning against each other, struck by the event and with their eyes on infinity'. The left hand of one of the miners rests on a miner's lamp. The other miner is holding a glove. They both have a typical miner's helmet on their heads. Several residents of Betekom were victims. In 1957, a memorial in the form of a mine lamp was placed in the nearby cemetery.

Jan Rymenams