Chevalement du puits n° 1bis de la compagnie des mines de Liévin
Monument
Chevalement du puits n° 1bis de la compagnie des mines de Liévin, located in Liévin (Pas-de-Calais), is a modern edifice built in the 19th-20th centuries. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Period
- Modern (19th-20th century)
- Location
- Liévin, Pas-de-Calais, Hauts-de-France
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 50.4227, 2.7751
- Mérimée Reference
- PA62000094
An emblematic vestige of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais coalfield, the headframe of shaft no. 1bis at Liévin embodies a century of coal mining, reconstruction and the fight against firedamp in the bowels of the Artois region.
History
Standing in Liévin, in what was once one of the most active mining areas in Europe, the headframe of shaft no. 1bis of the Compagnie des Mines de Liévin is much more than a metal structure: it is a monument to the black faces who shaped this region for more than a century. Listed as a Historic Monument in 2009, it is part of the industrial heritage that France is increasingly rediscovering and promoting. What makes this headframe unique is its history, which is deeply rooted in the major transformations of the French coal industry. Shaft no. 1bis, the result of sinking shaft no. 5 in 1874, was designed to meet the safety requirements imposed by the threat of firedamp - the dreaded gas that haunted the lives of miners and fuelled disasters in the region. Its primary purpose was to ventilate the underground galleries, a vital function that made it an essential link in the pit. Today, the site offers a striking visitor experience. The silhouette of the headframe stands out against the Pas-de-Calais sky, a reminder of the vertical nature of mining, the constant back and forth between light and depth. For visitors, approaching this industrial architecture means entering a world where technology and people have clashed and combined for generations. Lovers of industrial heritage, historians and photographers will find it a rich and moving place to contemplate. The surrounding area still bears the traces of this coal-mining epic: slag heaps, corons, railway infrastructure formerly linked to Lens station - so many elements that make Liévin and its surroundings an area of living memory. The Nord-Pas-de-Calais coalfield has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2012, giving this headframe an international resonance that its apparent austerity might not suggest at first glance.
Architecture
The headframe of shaft no. 1bis is a metal structure with a riveted frame, typical of the industrial mining architecture of the inter-war period. Rebuilt from 1922 onwards after the total destruction of the surface installations during the First World War, it illustrates the standardised technical solutions adopted by the mining companies of the Artesian Basin to rapidly relaunch production in the emergency of national reconstruction. The steel frame, assembled by riveting using the processes in use in the first half of the 20th century, supports the rollers that allow the extraction and service cables to run between the surface and underground levels. The trapezoidal or chevron-shaped silhouette typical of this generation of headframes gives the whole structure a strong verticality, making it a dominant visual landmark in the flat landscape of the Pas-de-Calais. The structure is designed to withstand the dynamic stresses generated by the movement of the cages and cables, with gantries sized accordingly. Unlike the reinforced concrete headframes that sprang up after the Second World War, the headframe at no. 1bis retains the aesthetics typical of the golden age of metal mining structures. Its state of preservation, which justified its protection as a Historic Monument, allows us to appreciate the quality of manufacture and the constructive logic of these functional buildings, which nonetheless possess a real formal coherence, at the crossroads of civil engineering and industrial architecture.
Related Figures
Ingénieurs de la Compagnie des mines de Liévin (direction technique du fonçage des puits, XIXe-XXe siècle)Ouvriers mineurs de la fosse n°1 de Liévin (acteurs quotidiens de l'exploitation dès 1860)Architectes et charpentiers métalliques de la reconstruction (1922, auteurs du chevalement actuel)Directeurs de la Compagnie des mines de Liévin (gestionnaires de l'exploitation charbonnière sur plus d'un siècle)Ingénieurs du Corps des mines (superviseurs de la sécurité, notamment dans la lutte contre le grisou)
Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Chevalement du puits n° 1bis de la compagnie des mines de Liévin located?
Chevalement du puits n° 1bis de la compagnie des mines de Liévin is located in Liévin, Pas-de-Calais department, Hauts-de-France region, France.
When was Chevalement du puits n° 1bis de la compagnie des mines de Liévin built?
Chevalement du puits n° 1bis de la compagnie des mines de Liévin dates back to a period built in the modern era (19th-20th century).
Is Chevalement du puits n° 1bis de la compagnie des mines de Liévin open to visitors?
Chevalement du puits n° 1bis de la compagnie des mines de Liévin is currently closed to visitors.