Hauts-de-France
On the border of the French town of Lens stands this 66-meter-high colossus made of reinforced concrete: the extraction tower of Fosse n° 11-19, a French coal mine that closed 30 years ago.
Wales
Thanks to the use of 18th-century cutting-edge technology - coal and steam - Blaenavon Ironworks in south Wales became the second largest iron producer in the world.
Ruhr Area
In 1993, the Kokerei Zollverein coking plant was at the end of its rope: the steel crisis of the 1990s caused the demand for coke to melt away.
Hamburg
In the German port city of Hamburg, a complex of neo-Gothic brick warehouses, the Speicherstadt, was built on islands in the Elbe between 1883 and 1927.
Hauts-de-France
A reinforced concrete headframe is all that remains of the Dutemple coal mine, which has operated for almost two centuries.
Hauts-de-France
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.
Hauts-de-France
In 1913, just before the outbreak of the First World War, the Compagnie des mines de Dourges founded the Fosse n°8 coal mine in Évin-Malmaison, northern France.
Ruhr Area
In 1847, the coal and steel industry in the German Ruhr area reached cruising speed as industrialist Franz Haniel erected a coal mine in Essen.
Hauts-de-France
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.
Hauts-de-France
After the dismantling of fosse 9 in Roost-Warendin, only the 61-meter-high headframe remained.
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Once a year, the Arenberg coal mine and two abandoned railway bridges play a starring role during the passage of the spring cycle classic: Paris-Roubaix.
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