Traveling to this or that country is usually limited to visiting historical and cultural monuments, history museums, and art galleries. Most tourists are interested in the sites of past generations and the legacy they left to their successors. However, if you think about it, an equally important development of technical progress was undergoing along with the construction of unique architectural monuments. New means of transport were appearing year by year. They made citizens’ life significantly easier and highly impressed villagers. Rare exhibits of transport vehicles of the past fascinate even modern residents of megacities who are spoiled by new technologies and, so to say, cosmic vehicles.
The Liege Public Transport Museum gives an opportunity to fully understand the history of Belgian vehicles beginning from the 19th century. The unique Belgian museum was founded in 1985 on the territory of a former tram depot. Its founders were amateurs.
You can see a splendid collection of vehicles (starting with the first city horsecar of 1875) and listen to the history of every exhibit. The oldest exhibit of the museum is a luxurious four-person carriage of the 19th century. Previously, it was the property of the last Prince-Bishop of Liege, Francois Antoine Marie Constantin de Mean. The first English horsecar made in 1875 is located not far from it. The latter appeared on the streets after the opening of the first tram line in Liege. There are also trams, made in 1905 and 1908, which carried the citizens even during the Second World War. You can see rare copies of buses (including one of 14 that were made with the pre-war Mercedes rolling chassis in 1952), alongside old coaches and trams. Moreover, the Liege Public Transport Museum keeps routes schemes, signs with station names, and even urban public transport drivers’ old uniforms.