Register
Events
Popular
More
Post #1
There used to be many urbex locations in my hometown, Leuven, but many of those places are disappearing so recently I have been wanting to capture these beautiful old buildings before it's too late.
I used to explore this brewery when I was just a little kid.
History (stole this from wikipedia..)
Tax records exist from 1366 for Leuven's Den Horen Brewery. In 1708, Sebastianus Artois became the master brewer at Den Horen, and gave his name to the brewery in 1717.
In 1926, Stella Artois was launched initially as a seasonal beer especially for the Christmas holiday market. It was first sold in Canada and it was such a commercial success that the brand became available year round and, apart from the duration of the Second World War, has been produced ever since. The first Stella Artois beer was exported to the European market in 1930. By 1960, 100 million litres of Stella Artois was being produced annually. InBev opened a new fully automated brewery in Leuven in 1993, and by 2006, total production volume was over a billion litres annually.
The current package design and bottle design and shape was created in 1988 by David Taylor, founder of Taylorbrands. The design replaced a 1960s design and is inspired by the original 1926 bottle label. The design incorporates the horn symbol of the Den Horen brewery and the date 1366 which is the date of the earliest recorded brewing in Leuven. The label also shows medals for excellence awarded to the brewery at a number of trade exhibitions in Belgium in the 19th and 20th century. The name Stella Artois is held within a "cartouche" which was influenced by the style of Belgian architecture of Leuvenes.
Two of my friends coming along, B.&J.
The 1926 Stella Artois brewery.
We had to squeeze ourselves through some bars of the gate at the main entrance but we got in!
Ready to enter the brewery on last shot before we go in.
So that's how we got in, the door was wide open SUHWEEET.
This place was full of junk, old desks and telephones. We were actually right underneath some of the brewing kettles.
Some more old desks. We went through the door at the end and took some stairs towards the roof.
We came across this awesome corridor.
Some awesome scales!
Why don't stairs these days look like these anymore?
Compositional genius can be found in the weirdest of places.
Finally got to the roof, took us long enough...
In the background you can see the new Stella Artois brewery.
Nature, it always wins doesn't it?
Nice Belgian view, shitty Belgian weather...
B.&J. were looking in the wrong direction.
We found a hatch in the roof and it led to some newer office and lab areas.
Checking out the lab, not very interesting.
You can see the hallway with the scales from earlier.
Strange looking garden, glass pyramid, roof thingy... I don't know what the hell it is but I want one.
We got bored of the newer parts so we went back to the roof.
Dead pigeon.
Scaled off paint, I really like the orange.
Back in the much older parts of the building.
Shoes, look at them.
Down the stairs we went.
Don't know what this is.. Couldn't read the label on the can.
Reminded me of the first Saw movie, scary as shit at night..
Hmm quite a contrast, yes this really is the same building only passed one door.
Another lab.
Emergency shower, no longer works.
Lab storage area, almost everything is still there!
Some cool looking equipment.
Okay so this room was pitch black, you couldn't see past your own nose...
We took this picture without the use of a flash.
What we did was set the shutter time to 30 seconds and ran across the room with a flashlight.
I'm quite pleased with the result.
They used to brew the beer in these tubs.
Opened another door and stumbled upon the old archives, empty archives..
A very big hall, maybe it was once used as a reception area or ballroom.
Went all the way to the end of this building and entered this room, looked through the windows and saw this:
Beautiful.
We left the newer building and went to the oldest part of the brewery.
Plastic Artois crates from the 60's I think.
Some old wooden crates of a beer I had never heard of before.
The old, very industrial looking area.
Oh boy, I do love me some old stairs...
This is the top view.
Wrench! We went back to the roof.
Eerie.
Surprise surprise, it was still raining..
Time to head home.
Had never been here before, had to take this picture.
Top of the brewing kettles you saw in one of the first pictures, the top halves were removed
probably because they were made of copper.
Back outside, farewell old friend of mine! I'll miss you...
Really it's kinda sad.
I hope you guys enjoyed this, I will probably do some other buildings in the future.
If you have any questions I'd be happy to provide you with some answers.
Edited:
The stairs look awesome in 3d.
-
I tried to pay a prostitute for a hug, but she turned me down because I'm a huge faggot.
July 2010
2,482 Posts
-
Wow they're some really good pics OP. How long did you spend inside the building?
Also, a bit off topic but in the picture of your shoes I have the same ones as the guy on the right
-
freaky.
-
Stella Artois is my favourite beer.
-
I love these exploration threads, amirite?
this could be the set of a horror movie.
-
I tried to pay a prostitute for a hug, but she turned me down because I'm a huge faggot.
July 2010
2,482 Posts
Spent about 4-5 hours inside, it was exhausting..Wow they're some really good pics OP. How long did you spend inside the building?
Also, a bit off topic but in the picture of your shoes I have the same ones as the guy on the right
-
Did you manage to explore every area of the brewery?
-
I tried to pay a prostitute for a hug, but she turned me down because I'm a huge faggot.
July 2010
2,482 Posts
Nope only about half, it's really huge.
-
Those pictures are fantastic. You should really go back and take some more! I look through most of these urbex threads, and see that the place is always vandalized. This place surprisingly wasn't!
-
you know the beer in the crates from the 60s is probably worth quite a lot if its still in there
-
That 3D stairs picture really looks like 3D. Too bad it can't be in full resolution and more colors. It would look even more awesome.
-
Stella Artois, or as I like to call it Stella act a twat.
-
Stella is fucking rank. Cool building though
-
You know beer doesn't age right?
-
I love this stuff, them big brewing tubs freak me out though, I always imagine falling in or something.
-
I actually really liked the newer part. It reminds me of what would happen in a modern day Pripyat kind of thing. Clean, just empty with stuff where people were last using it. Pretty creepy to me.
-
I loved this picture,
Also, you picked a perfect day. I love the gloomy weather, it gave a nice atmosphere to all the pictures.
-
This makes me angry that I live in Arizona, which hasn't got anything even close to as cool as this. This is probably the cool Urbex with the coolest photos I've personally ever seen.
What lens did you use? It seems rather wide.
-
The factory celebrates the beer; the thread celebrates the factory.
-
I love to do something like this, but I'm too afraid I'd fall through a floor and break a leg.
-
Wow. I only wish that you salvaged some stuff.
-
That lab equipment and all the chemical could worth hundreds, thousands of dollars.
-
Technically I think that's considered looting, as they are more or less trespassing on private property. I also believe that it's a sort of understood rule in UrbEx to "leave no trace," so that future explorers can experience the same as what you experienced.
-
I tried to pay a prostitute for a hug, but she turned me down because I'm a huge faggot.
July 2010
2,482 Posts
Facepunch is fucking up my posts..
I'm going to salvage some of the stuff, they are throwing away everything soon...
But I don't want to sell it just keep it for myself...
Also I don't know what lense I used because I used my sisters camera, it's probably just a standard one.
If you guys have some more questions, I'll answer.
-
I tried to pay a prostitute for a hug, but she turned me down because I'm a huge faggot.
July 2010
2,482 Posts
Going back soon to take some more pictures, I have taken pictures of about half the place.
Fucking auto merge....
Why you no work facepunch?
Is it me or is facepunch loading really slow today?
-
Sweet shit, man!
YOU GO BACK TO THOSE LABS LIKE A MAN AND TAKE EVERYTHING YOU CAN GET YOUR HANDS ON
Do it for me, because if I were there I'd be stuffing backpacks full of that stuff. Do you know how much laboratory equipment goes for, especially vintage stuff?
GO GO GO
-
Why ruin it for everyone else who wants to urbex things like this. I hate seeing things in Urbex threads that are all torn about because some jackass teenager thought it would be 'cool' or 'fun' to destroy some old vintage things. Graffiti on the other hand can sometimes look alright but leave it at the highway overpass.
Oh and this is probably my favorite Urbex set.
-
Wow the cupboards and labs and stuff are in perfect conditions and haven't been vandalized. Incredible, one could still live in the cubicle room as if it were his living room if they wanted.
Sir, you can now say that have taken the virginity of the Stella Artois Brewery.
-
Maybe I'm just not understanding something but...
He's not "ruining it" when it might not be there a year from now.
-
But...but....but... I AM the brewery urbex..er here!
-
Those are some nice photos. I wish there was somewhere near where I live that they haven't completely torn down or stripped.
And that I had a camera with good specs.
-
This needs a tripod HDR shot. So much potential!
That's awesome!
-
Hehe, it's me and him and you. And we all seem to have a second Urbex coming up. There's gonna be a Urbex fad in here soon.
-
I'd suggest fixing up the reception area. Looks fairly clean. Would be a kick ass pad. I mean it really would be a kicking rad place to chill with your friends.
-
Oh Stella, no matter how many embarrassing situations you've gotten me into, I can't help but love you. Also, that looks awesome man.
-
That lab shot with plants overgrowing the windows is awesome.
-
I tried to pay a prostitute for a hug, but she turned me down because I'm a huge faggot.
July 2010
2,482 Posts
Well I have been going there since 2004 so I have taken it's virginity a long time ago.
Edited:
Room for someone more? <3
Edited:
They are already starting to demolish and restorate some parts of the building. I don't really know what they are going to do with it. I am also taking only small amounts of stuff only for myself not for selling.
I'm very happy that you guys like the photo's!
-
Damn, I live near an old abandoned industrial park, and I've seen a lot of cool shit that could be explorable near Ieper.
I should round up my friends and go there one day, we already did an urbex of an old Antwerp tramway building - we had no cameras though, was a spur of the moment.
Thanks for the inspiration my man :D
-
I tried to pay a prostitute for a hug, but she turned me down because I'm a huge faggot.
July 2010
2,482 Posts
Maybe we could explore together sometime!
-
Very cool. Photos are top-notch and it seems like you've found a really awesome place (as far abandoned buildings go, anyhow). Have you ever considered bringing a video camera along as well? Photos are good, but even with your descriptions its hard to make a clear idea of how the rooms fit together. Not too many urban explorers take video, for some reason.
x 77
x 47
x 2
x 1
x 1
Disagree x 1
Dumb x 1
Funny x 2
Friendly x 1
Optimistic x 1
