In the French coal basin of Nord-pas-de-Calais, Germany's Ruhr and Saarland, England, Wales, and Belgium, coal was brought to the surface in hundreds of coal mines for many years. Today, coal mines have become heritage sites or have been demolished.
With its three coal mines, the German city of Herten was, for a long time, the largest mining city in Europe. Schlägel Eisen is one of the mines that can still be found there.
A reinforced concrete headframe is all that remains of the Dutemple coal mine that operated for almost two centuries.
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.
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.
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.
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