Nord-Pas De Calais Mining Basin (France)
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Consultations ICOMOS consulted the TICCIH and several independent Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin experts. (France) Comments on the assessment of this cultural landscape No 1360 were received from IUCN on 1st February 2012. The information was carefully considered by ICOMOS in reaching the final decision and recommendation in March 2012. Official name as proposed by the State Party Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin Literature consulted (selection) Location Bergeron, L., « Les villages ouvriers comme éléments du Nord-Pas de Calais Region patrimoine de l'industrie », Patrimoine de l’industrie - Industrial Nord and Pas-de-Calais Departments Patrimony, TICCIH, 2001. France Centre historique minier, 10 mars 1906, La catastrophe des Brief description mines de Courrières…, Lewarde, 2007. The Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin corresponds to the Hughes, S., The International Collieries, Thematic Study, French part of the northwest European coal seam. On a ICOMOS and TICCIH, 2003. broad open plain, it extends along some 120 km, through the two administrative departments of Nord and Pas-de- Mattei, B., Révoltes et mythes du mineur…, Seyssel, 1987. Calais. It presents a remarkable cultural landscape in terms of its continuity and homogeneity. It provides an Woronoff, D., Histoire de l’industrie en France du XVIe siècle à important and well-preserved example of the mining and nos jours, Paris, 1998. industrial landscapes created following three centuries of coal extraction from the 18th to the 20th centuries, as Technical Evaluation Mission evidenced by the pit heads and their equipment, a dense An ICOMOS technical evaluation mission visited the and diversified worker habitat, the urban planning of property from 19 to 23 September 2010. A further mission mining towns, slag heaps, etc. Significant human, took place on site from 17 to 19 September 2011. economic and cultural values are associated with the mines’ history, in terms of everyday activity, social events Additional information requested and received from and accidents. the State Party In its letter dated 28 January 2011, ICOMOS requested Category of property additional information from the State Party concerning: In terms of categories of cultural property set out in the possible presence of any industrial components Article 1 of the 1972 World Heritage Convention, this is a incidental to the actual coal extraction (coke plant, serial nomination of 109 monuments, ensembles and power plants, etc.); sites. the State Party’s long-term vision regarding pumping out the many old pits given the soil subsidence. In terms of the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention The State Party replied on 25 February 2011 with (January 2008), the property is also nominated as a additional documentation that is incorporated into the cultural landscape, in the organically evolved landscape present assessment report. category and the continuing landscape subcategory. Date of ICOMOS approval of this report 14 March 2012 1 Basic data Included in the Tentative List 2 The property 1 February 2002 Description International Assistance from the World Heritage At the continental end of the North European Coal Seam, Fund for preparing the Nomination the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin extends along some None 120 km. It forms a strip of land lying roughly east-west, that is no wider than about twelve kilometres and covering Date received by the World Heritage Centre an area of approximately 120,000 hectares. It straddles 25 January 2010 the two administrative departments of Nord and Pas-de- Calais. The main cities are Valenciennes, Douai, Lens Background and Béthune. This is a new nomination. 209 Inventory and typological approach the property form a selection of the most representative and/or provide the greatest integrity. The nominated serial property includes 109 separate sites The coal transport infrastructure or ‘cavaliers’ (of (or components), grouped within 13 regional sectors which there are 14 covering a total distance of 54 km): corresponding to the former mining companies. The Mining led to the development of very dense coal ensemble includes a total of 353 remarkable objects handling and heavy transport networks, including forming the mining landscape. They are described by railways and waterways. They contributed to shaping sector and then discussed by theme in the nomination the region and landscapes in the Mining Basin. The dossier. The fact that a single inventory object can cover sections of ‘cavaliers’ form a link between the several uses or different built structures explains the high property’s various components. number of objects in the typology. For the property’s The railway stations (3): In a coal-mining region, they definition, the reference is the number of inventoried are a specific regional structure related to heavy objects per section. transport and they are a major site in any mining town. The Fresnes-sur-Escaut, Lens, and Douvrin stations Section No, mining No of sites or Number of have been selected. company name components objects The subsided mine ponds (5): It was in the first half of 1- Anzin 1 to 20 87 the 20th century that ponds appeared where mines 2- Aniche 21 to 33 44 had subsided, a visible consequence of the intense 3- Escarpelle 34 to 37 8 subterranean exploitation. They contribute to the 4- Ostricourt 38 to 40 10 industrial landscape. 5- Dourges 41 to 49 37 The workers’ estates (mining villages) and social 6- Courrières 50 to 57 21 habitat (124): The mining villages are groups of 7- Lens 58 to 69 52 workers’ houses in mining regions, with repetitive 8- Liévin 70 to 76 13 façades generally in brick, along regular and 9- Béthune 77 to 87 29 symmetrical alignments on straight paved roads. 10- Vicoigne-Noeux- 88 to 91 22 Resulting from the owner paternalism of the 19th Drocourt century and the desire to control the mining 11- Bruay 92 to 100 21 population, the estates are a major testimony to the 12- Marles 101 to 105 5 urban and social transformations delivered by 13- Ligny-Auchy 106 to 109 4 industrialization. Their design reflects the confrontation between different currents of social thinking and new The remarkable sites and objects have been defined ideologies in the 19th century. Under the influence of within the context of a systematic inventory approach to architects and entrepreneurs, they have taken many the mining heritage of the Nord-Pas de Calais Basin. It forms and have evolved throughout the history of the also involved studies by experts and symposia to analyse mines. Still very numerous today in the Nord-Pas de and identify both the objects and the living and evolving Calais Mining Basin (almost 600), those included have cultural landscapes. The types of objects are: been the subject of a rigorous selection based on their significance, integrity and authenticity. The property The pits (17): A pit includes all the surface facilities or displays a vast constructive typology ranging from the pit head, the associated shaft or shafts and related traditional mining village to detached housing estates, underground infrastructure. The earliest surviving garden cities and tenement buildings. elements date from 1850, the period of the Basin’s The schools (46): In all periods, mining companies industrial development. Since that date, all the major built schools, vocational training centres, domestic periods of extraction and construction techniques are science schools for girls, etc. These initiatives were an represented within the pits. In addition, four pits have adjunct to the social provision of worker housing, while been designated by the State Party as “major sites of also answering the specific training needs for the mine remembrance”; Gohelle, Oignies, Arenberg, and and the owners’ education projects for the families. Lewarde, the current Mining Industry Historical Centre. State and Catholic schools were added to this initial The headgear (21): These are large metal or concrete arrangement and gradually took over throughout the frames that support the lift systems over a mine shaft 20th century. for the men and the extracted ore. They form a tall and Religious buildings (26): Many places of worship were spectacular monumental structure that is typical of a built by the companies to encourage religious practice, mining landscape. good moral conduct and provide a framework for the The slag heaps (51): These are hillocks of spoil from social practices of the miners and their families. They the coal mine, as extraction advances. They have were also intended to stem the early dechristianisation sometimes taken on very considerable proportions, of mine workers and the rise of socialist and then such as the twin slag heaps at pit 11-19 in Lens which Marxist ideas. Symbols of spiritual elevation, but also have a footprint of 90 hectares and exceed 140 of order and morality, the religious buildings are built metres in height. The slag heaps symbolize the with care and an obvious concern for monumentality. landscape identity of the Mining Basin. Their visual The projects were often entrusted to renowned impact is all the greater as the surrounding landscape architects. is a uniform plain. The slag heaps adopted as part of 210 Health facilities (24): One of the most important operations that were overlaid on the site. The latter is heritage assets inherited from mining operations are approached from the history of the site’s exploitation and the medical establishments. The creation of the description of the evolution