Walloon Steel Legacy
swedish experience
digital photographic archives journey The miners and iron workers who came to Sweden from Belgium were referred to as “Walloons.” The Walloons, or Vallons (Swedish spelling), were an ethnic group which spoke a dialect of French and lived in the southern and eastern Belgium, along with neighboring areas in France. Most of the Walloons were iron workers coming from the Liege and Namur regions, along the Meuse River. Many important families today in Sweden were originally Walloon, including some nobility.
Sweden and Belgium have been trading partners since the 9th century. During the Middle Ages, these two countries became partners through an alliance of the trading cities of the Baltic and North Sea. From the 10th to the 16th centuries, the city of Flanders became one of the most flourishing areas in Europe. It was a region overlapping Belgium, France and the Netherlands. Sweden was still a major agricultural country with a smaller population. From the second half of the 15th century, Sweden’s foreign trade expanded. Textiles coming from Flanders were traded for copper and iron from Sweden. Steelwork is the core of the Walloon identity. The exhibition crosses collections from museum’s and contemporain photographic portraits of walloon and swedish people.
co-production project
Eco Musée de Bois du Luc,
Le Musée de la photographie à Charleroi
Le Musée de la Métallurgie de Liège
Awex (Agence wallonne à l’exportation), Martine Leclercq
WBI
parrainage. M Ph. Busquin, ministre d’Etat
Walloons family association in Sweden
