Cité des Electriciens (ancien coron de la fosse n° 2 dite du Mont-Blanc) , située en bordure de la rue Anatole-France et constitué de la totalité des rues Ampère, Branly, Coulomb, Edison, Faraday, Franklin, Gramme, Laplace, Marconi, Volta
Monument
Cité des Electriciens (ancien coron de la fosse n° 2 dite du Mont-Blanc) , située en bordure de la rue Anatole-France et constitué de la totalité des rues Ampère, Branly, Coulomb, Edison, Faraday, Franklin, Gramme, Laplace, Marconi, Volta, located in Bruay-la-Buissière (Pas-de-Calais), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Bruay-la-Buissière, Pas-de-Calais, Hauts-de-France
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 50.4821, 2.5529
- Mérimée Reference
- PA62000078
The Cité des Électriciens in Bruay-la-Buissière is the oldest mining town in the west of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, and its streets bear the names of the pioneers of electricity.
History
In the heart of Bruay-la-Buissière, the Cité des Électriciens stands out as an exceptional example of 19th-century working-class architecture. Built between 1856 and 1861 by the Compagnie des Mines de Bruay, this coherent group of coron houses is the oldest surviving mining estate in the western part of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais coalfield, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Strolling through its alleys is like stepping back in time to the golden age of the French coal industry. What makes this place truly unique is, first and foremost, its remarkable integrity. Unlike so many other mining towns that have been transformed or demolished, the Cité des Électriciens has survived nearly one hundred and sixty years of history without losing most of its original appearance. Only the drinking water and electricity networks have been added over the decades - a gentle irony for a city whose streets bear the names of Ampère, Volta, Franklin, Faraday, Marconi and Edison. This nomenclature, a tribute to the pioneers of electricity, lends the whole a unique poetic and didactic character. Visiting the Cité des Électriciens is like immersing yourself in the daily life of miners' families during the Second Empire and the Belle Époque. The low-slung houses, lined up with a regularity that reflects the paternalistic rigour of the mining companies, evoke an organised, supportive community focused on working the pit. It's easy to imagine the daily routine, children playing in the alleyways, women in narrow gardens, men returning from the pit with their hands blackened. Now restored and open to visitors, the town has been given a museographic and cultural focus, making it a living place, far from a static museum. Interpretation areas help visitors to understand the living conditions of the miners through objects, personal accounts and period reconstructions. The tour is aimed at families as well as enthusiasts of industrial history and social architecture.
Architecture
The Cité des Électriciens is a remarkably coherent example of Second Empire mining architecture. The workers' houses, built in continuous rows or in regular blocks, are typical of the paternalistic housing of the second half of the 19th century: low volumes, often a ground floor and an attic storey, sober facades punctuated by brick-framed openings. Brick, the material of choice in the north of France, is used throughout, giving the housing estate the warm, homogenous tone characteristic of the mining region. The overall layout followed a rational grid logic typical of industrial town planning at the time: straight, parallel or perpendicular streets lined with houses aligned with almost military regularity. Each dwelling had a small garden at the front and a backyard at the rear, allowing for the cultivation of a few food crops and the maintenance of a small domestic livestock. This spatial organisation, both utilitarian and social, was designed to maintain order, cleanliness and morality within the working-class community, in accordance with the paternalistic canons of the mining company. The decorative austerity of the facades, not without a certain modest elegance, is typical of the social architecture of this period: no superfluous embellishments, but attention paid to the correct execution of the brickwork, the symmetry of the openings and the solidity of the volumes. The complex has survived the decades without any major alterations, giving it an architectural and historical legibility that is rare in France's industrial heritage.
Related Figures
André-Marie Ampère — physicien et mathématicien français, pionnier de l'électromagnétisme, dont la rue porte le nomÉdouard Branly — physicien français inventeur du cohéreur, précurseur de la radio, honoré par une rue de la citéThomas Edison — inventeur américain de la lampe à incandescence et du phonographe, présent dans la toponymie de la citéMichael Faraday — physicien britannique, père de l'induction électromagnétique, dont le nom orne une rueBenjamin Franklin — savant et homme d'État américain, célèbre pour ses expériences sur la foudreGuglielmo Marconi — inventeur italien des transmissions radio, présent dans le panthéon des rues de la citéAlessandro Volta — physicien italien inventeur de la pile électrique, dont le nom est donné à une rueZénobe Gramme — inventeur belge de la dynamo industrielle, représenté dans la nomenclature de la cité
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Cité des Electriciens (ancien coron de la fosse n° 2 dite du Mont-Blanc) , située en bordure de la rue Anatole-France et constitué de la totalité des rues Ampère, Branly, Coulomb, Edison, Faraday, Franklin, Gramme, Laplace, Marconi, Volta located?
Cité des Electriciens (ancien coron de la fosse n° 2 dite du Mont-Blanc) , située en bordure de la rue Anatole-France et constitué de la totalité des rues Ampère, Branly, Coulomb, Edison, Faraday, Franklin, Gramme, Laplace, Marconi, Volta is located in Bruay-la-Buissière, Pas-de-Calais department, Hauts-de-France region, France.
Is Cité des Electriciens (ancien coron de la fosse n° 2 dite du Mont-Blanc) , située en bordure de la rue Anatole-France et constitué de la totalité des rues Ampère, Branly, Coulomb, Edison, Faraday, Franklin, Gramme, Laplace, Marconi, Volta open to visitors?
Cité des Electriciens (ancien coron de la fosse n° 2 dite du Mont-Blanc) , située en bordure de la rue Anatole-France et constitué de la totalité des rues Ampère, Branly, Coulomb, Edison, Faraday, Franklin, Gramme, Laplace, Marconi, Volta is currently closed to visitors.