©The Chabaud-Latour mining site at Condé-sur-l'Escaut|Claude.waeghemacker

The Nord-Pas-de-Calais mining basin A World Heritage landscape

The Nord-Pas de Calais region offers a remarkable landscape shaped by three centuries of coal mining (18th to 20th centuries). The site bears witness to the search for a model working-class housing estate, from the mid-19th century to the 1960s, and illustrates a significant period in the history of industrial Europe. It provides information on the living conditions of the miners and on working-class solidarity.

The site’s 120,000 hectares are made up of 109 individual properties, including pits (the oldest dates back to 1850), headframes (supporting the elevators), slag heaps (some of which cover 90 hectares and exceed 140 meters in height), coal transportation infrastructures, railway stations, corons and miners’ villages including schools, religious buildings, community and health facilities, mining company offices, executive housing and châteaux, town halls, etc.

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©The perimeter of the listed property|Mission Bassin Minier

The World Heritage perimeter

Outstanding universal value

More than 1,200 items of mining heritage, of varying quality, have now been identified. In order to be included on the List, it was necessary to define a perimeter of inscription that would bear the Outstanding Universal Value (U.U.V.). Heritage was prioritized and selected according to multiple criteria: integrity, authenticity, architecture, urban planning, history, geology, geography, landscape diversity, state of conservation, protection and management…

In the end, 25% of the total mining heritage was selected.

The buffer zone encompasses objects and groups of buildings from the mining heritage which, while not meeting the requirements of outstanding universal value, contribute to the historical and landscape interpretation of the coalfield.

THE PERIMETER IN FIGURES

89 communes covered by the perimeter,
124 communes with buffer zone,
353 features covering 4,000 ha of landscape, including
17 significant pits or remains,
21 headframes, 51 slag heaps, 54 km of stairways,
3 railway stations, 124 housing estates, 38 schools and
26 religious buildings,
22 health facilities,
7 miscellaneous community facilities,
3 large mining company offices…

Exceptional landscapes

The Basin Minier developed in a predominantly rural “pre-mine” area. The mining system of pits, slag heaps and towns was imposed on the surface, from east to west, following the orientation of the underground deposit. The pits, slag heaps, cavaliers and mining towns have profoundly altered the original landscape, creating new skylines.

Today, these industrial landscapes are the heritage signature of the Bassin Minier, setting it apart from the rest of the region, France and the world. Far from being monotonous, the 120-kilometre-long territory offers many different landscapes due to its many natural features (rivers, plains, valleys, forests, etc.). From east to west or north to south, crossing the Bassin Minier offers just as many different atmospheres.

Did you know?

The sites inscribed on the List tell the story of every facet of human history, from that of the pharaohs and emperors to that of the miners! The Miner’s Basin has thus become one of the world’s great heritage icons, alongside the Pyramids of Giza (Egypt), the Statue of Liberty (USA), the Acropolis of Athens (Greece) and the Great Barrier Reef (Australia), to name but a few…

10.Conde-sur-lEscaut-Chabaud-Latour-OTCVM-claude.waeghemacker-HD-25.jpg — ©Chabaud-Latour mining site at Condé-sur-l'Escaut|©Claude Waeghemacker

A universal heritage ...

Universal… Just like the invention of writing or the invention of the computer, industrial revolutions and industrialization have changed the face of the world.

The Bassin Minier is a powerful reminder of these multiple and contrasting upheavals in the history of mankind. And this universal story resonates deeply elsewhere in the world. Everywhere, industry and mining have created characteristic new landscapes, and mines and miners can be found in every corner of the globe.

... and exceptional!

Among the world’s industrial basins and monuments, the Mining Basin stands out for the large-scale presence of a single extractive industry, an exceptional and dense representation of all the heritage facets, both technical and social, and of all the eras of the coal industry, and a remarkable preservation of its landscapes.

A symbolic territory for the working class, it is also one of the emblematic sites of European integration (ECSC: Economic Community for Coal and Steel).

A living territory

As a living environment, the Mining Basin continues to evolve. With its inclusion on the World Heritage List, the aim is not to freeze it or “put it under a bell”. The aim is to build on this heritage and promote it as a factor of pride and renewal.

This listing offers excellent prospects both for the protection and conversion of mining heritage, for a renewed and attractive image of the coalfield, and for its social, cultural and economic development. Mining was the source of the region’s development.

The international recognition of mining heritage continues this development, acting as a gas pedal for the improvement of the living environment, tourism, new cultural facilities and many other facets…

A rich and varied mining heritage

With its major production sites and their headframes, slag heaps and workers’ housing estates, the coalfield boasts a remarkable diversity of heritages inherited from coal mining history.

These legacies are a powerful reminder of the intensity of industrial activity in the area, and of the men and women whose daily lives are linked to mining.

The technical heritage of the coalfield is a remarkable testimony to the evolution of industrial architecture and mining techniques in the 19th and 20th centuries.

As new seams were discovered and production intensified, shafts, topped by headframes, and pits multiplied, linked together by the cavaliers
These were linked by railroads, which transported the coal to shipping points: railway stations and water stations. The slag heaps were built in the immediate vicinity of the pits.

The mining housing estates and their community facilities constitute an exceptional social heritage.

Around 700 housing estates were built, of which over 550 remain. Over the course of 150 years, mining housing in the Nord-Pas de Calais region has constantly diversified as a result of new thinking and the circulation of ideas and practices among industrialists and architects: from the corons (1800-1890) to the cités pavillonnaires (1890-1939), from the cités-jardins (1904-1939) to the cités modernes (1946-1970). These housing estates are an exceptional showcase for working-class housing in Europe.

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