Le Solvent

Om museet

Rue de Limbourg, which runs alongside the Vesdre between Verviers and Dolhain, has been a communication route and a site of industrial activity since the nineteenth century. It was there that the Société anonyme Solvent belge was established in 1899. In 1970 it merged with the Dolhain carbonising and washing works; after a bankruptcy, the business was taken over under the name Traitex by the Duesberg and Sagehomme families. The company used a process from the United States to degrease and wash wool while recovering by-products such as lanolin.

Traitex permanently abandoned the extraction of lanolin in 1997, and steam disappeared in Verviers in 2004. The industrial site was then put up for sale. In 2017 the City of Verviers and the Walloon Region, through the Walloon Heritage Institute, jointly bought the textile machine building, the machine room and the offices.

Today the Musées de Verviers keep a visitable store of textile tools and machines there, including the mule-jenny and a set of carding machines, which are among the most exceptional pieces. Volunteers, former textile workers, mechanics or enthusiasts, carry out the restoration of the machines. At the back, the machine room, owned by the Walloon Heritage Agency, houses solvent tanks connected to steam compressors from the late nineteenth century. They were used to extract the fatty matter from wool, from which lanolin was obtained, used in pharmacy, soap-making and cosmetics.

Højdepunkter

• Visitable store of textile machines of the Musées de Verviers
• The mule-jenny and the set of carding machines, exceptional pieces of the collection
• Steam engine room with solvent tanks and compressors
• History of lanolin extraction
• Guided tour by passionate volunteers, from fleece to cloth

Permanente udstillinger

• Réserve visitable de machines textiles – Textile tools and machines of the Musées de Verviers, including the mule-jenny and the carding machines, restored by volunteers.
• Salle des machines à vapeur – Solvent tanks and steam compressors from the late nineteenth century, used to extract lanolin from wool.

Ejer

Musées de Verviers (Ville de Verviers)

Entrépriser & rabatter

Entry price of €2 per person; the €50 flat fee covers the guide for the whole group.

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