Charleroi is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. The inhabitants are called Carolorégiens or simply Carolos.

Sights

• The belfry, part of the City Hall, is included in the list of World Heritage Sites.
• The Maison Dorée was built in 1899 by Art Nouveau architect Alfred Frère. Its name is derived from the golden sgraffiti that adorn the façade.
• In remembrance to the Jews of Charleroi being murdered by the Nazi regime, the German artist Gunter Demnig has collocated nine Stolpersteine in Charleroi.

Museums

• Museum of Photography Charleroi
• Centre culturel scientifique de l’ULB
• Musée des chasseurs à pied 
• Site du bois du Cazier à Marcinelle 
• Musée archéologique
• Musée du verre 
• Musée des Beaux-Arts 

Education

Charleroi is Belgium’s biggest city without having its own university. Since 1966, the University of Louvain is implemented in Charleroi, with three faculties, on its UCLouvain Charleroi campus based in the city center and in Montignies-sur-Sambre, including the Louvain School of Management and, more recently, the Louvain School of Engineering, organising Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, and research. Other universities have since started operations in Charleroi, including the Universities of Namur, Mons and the Université libre de Bruxelles.

Economy

The municipality contains an industrial area for electrical engineering and the production of iron, steel, glass and chemicals. Charleroi is in the center of a coal basin. Even so, due to the widespread loss in industrial power in the area since the 1970s, the area suffered some of the highest unemployment and poverty rates in Europe for most of the 1980s and 1990s. However, from the early 2000s, the overall economy of the area has diversified to include health care, transportation and telecommunications. Nevertheless, the poverty rates are still significant.