Musée de la Photographie

The Musée de la Photographie in Mont-sur-Marchienne is one of Europe's leading photography museums — not a small regional curiosity but a serious institution with a collection of over 80,000 works. It occupies a well-restored 19th-century Carmelite convent in the southern suburbs of Charleroi, with the cloistered architecture providing an unexpectedly sympathetic setting for photographic art.

The permanent collection covers the history of photography from its earliest days, including daguerreotypes, glass plates, and early colour processes. Temporary exhibitions change frequently and feature both Belgian and international photographers. The museum also holds specialist collections of photographic equipment and a reference library. Well worth the tram ride from the centre.

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A story
The museum holds more than 80,000 photographs and photographic objects, making it one of the largest photography collections in the world. It was established in 1987 in a former Carmelite convent — a 19th-century building that seems unlikely for such a modern medium but works superbly, the cloistered spaces lending themselves to contemplative looking. The permanent collection includes daguerreotypes from the 1840s, and the rotating exhibitions bring in major contemporary names.