Mons, Belgium

Mons is a city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Hainaut, founded as a fortified settlement in the 12th century by Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut. After Belgian independence in 1830 its fortifications were dismantled in the 1860s, opening the way for urban expansion, and the Industrial Revolution and coal mining turned Mons into a center of heavy industry. In August 1914 the city was the site of a major early engagement of the First World War at which British forces were forced to retreat before the German advance, and Mons then remained under German occupation until it was liberated by the Canadian Corps in the final days of the war. Much of its center consists of two and three story houses in characteristic red brick, and the city, with about 95,299 residents as of 2018, was named European Capital of Culture in 2015 jointly with the Czech city of Plzen.