Mining Museum of Lewarde, Northern France.
written by reflections
on November 24th, 2008
(0 votes)
On the site of a former pit, France’s biggest mining museum offers a descent into the coal stoves and an introduction to daily life in the coalfield. The Delloye Colliery produced up to 1 000t of coal per day between 1930 and 1971.
The tour starts in the area where miners changed into their working clothes, leaving their other clothes hanging from the ceiling (la salle des pendus / the room of the hanged), the lamp room and the offices.
Then, you take a yellow man riding train that brings you to a fake lift, where you have to impression of going down to number 2 shaft , 450 m depth. The coal galleries are very realistic and you feel like you are very far from the surface.
Visitors are shown around by ex-miners.
A gallery illustrate the social life of mining communities in northern France, particularly in the 1890s when the area featured in Zola’s novel, Germinal. The surface building display a range of coal face equipment and machinery from the past and present.
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