Hauts-de-France

The cobblestone section from Wallers to Hélesmes plays a starring role every year in Paris-Roubaix. But until a hundred years ago, wagons packed with coal thundered above the cobblestone strip.

After the First World War, the German army left dozens of bunkers behind in the French Illies, a village about 20 kilometers west of Lille.

A reinforced concrete headframe is all that remains of the Dutemple coal mine, which has operated for almost two centuries.

On the left bank of the Scheldt in Fresnes-sur-Escaut in Northern France, this centuries-old fire engine building bears witness to the ceaseless struggle of miners and engineers against the groundwater in the underground galleries.

The metal headframe and extraction machine of the Vieux 2 coal mine in Marles-les-Mines is the only remaining headframe preserved in the Béthune-Bruay region.

When the northern French coal mines were nationalized after the Second World War under the Houillères du bassin du Nord et du Pas-de-Calais, rationality and efficiency were the order of the day, including in the mining towns.

The 43-metre-high headframe of the Saint-Amé mine reminds us of the turbulent coal history of the northern French municipality of Liévin, near Lens.

After the dismantling of fosse 9 in Roost-Warendin, only the 61-meter-high headframe remained.