Keramis Ceramic Centre

This museum dedicated to ceramics is housed at the site of the Boch Frères Keramis factory in La Louvière, which was begun in 1841. The company specialised in high-quality faience products such as vases, tiles and decorated plates. It diversified into a wide range of internationally renowned tableware and sanitary-ware until the factory closed in 1985. It was part of a group that eventually became Villeroy and Boch.

The museum opened in 2015. The purpose-built galleries with curved walls and large windows enclose original factory buildings and three giant coal-fired bottle kilns, the last of their kind in Belgium. The ‘Boch Collection’ displays examples of the ceramics made in the factory, including Charles Catteau’s vases, and Raymond-Henri Chevallier’s tea sets. A collection of modern ceramics features artists of the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Resident contemporary artists show their final projects in exhibitions. Educational, creative and research workshops are open to the public.