Lens going oval!By Georges RouzeauKnown for its football passion, Lens will be the smallest French town to host the 2007 Rugby World Cup. From the town centre to the military cemeteries, without forgetting the slag heaps, here are a few sites to visit before the matches and... the opening of the Louvre annex in 2009. A stroll through Lens is an opportunity to recall pell-mell the life of the mining basin and that of the 'black-faced' coal-miners, but also the First World War and its military cemeteries. Lens was totally flattened or almost so by the Germans during the First World War, and its architecture is a bit of a mish-mash. Only the train station built in 1924 - whose clock tower gives it the shape of a steam train - is obviously Art Deco, rather scandalous at the time. In memory of the war, Rue du Havre was re-named with the name of the town that helped Lens with reconstruction after the war. Ironically, Le Havre was to experience a similar fate during the Second World War. On the corner of Rue du Havre and Rue de Metz, you can admire a fine house imitating seaside style architecture, built of millstone grit (a curiosity in this area), and decorated with a corner tower like a Medieval bartizan, showing the first owner's prosperity.  Place Jean Jaurès © G. Rouzeau/ViaMichelin Amid the town centre shops, Place Jean Jaurès features regional or Art Deco type facades like that situated above the shop À la ville de Limoges (no. 18), decorated with Longwy enamels. Entirely restored, the facade of the confectioner's Jeanson (no. 42) features mascarons amid which you can see the symbols of gourmandise and also, more surprisingly, a round ball demonstrating the owner's humour and passion for football (see article). Only the Church Saint-Léger, re-built stone by stone, has kept its original style - Baroque typical of the Spanish Netherlands.  The Maison syndicale © G. Rouzeau/ViaMichelin Several buildings important in the history of mining are worth a look. The town, headquarters of the big Compagnie des Mines de Lens, was at the heart of a 75 mile-long mining basin. Mention can be made, for instance, of the Maison syndicale (trade-union house) inaugurated in 1991 in the wake of the catastrophe at Courrières. This disaster in which more than 1,000 miners died, triggered a broad social movement that was to lead in particular to the introduction of weekly rest. The venue hosts exhibitions from time to time. On Rue Wetz and Avenue Élie Reumaux, a few fine half-timbered houses (in homage to the re-conquered Alsace-Loraine) bear witness to the other side of this mining past, that of the managers and engineers of the Compagnie des Mines de Lens. The chateau-style head office was built in very bombastic regional style. These offices have been transformed into a university. Last, former pit head no. 9 will serve as the setting for the annex to the Louvre museum that will open in 2010: the minimalist project by the Japanese architects partnership Sanaa - a succession of glass parallelepipeds - has been chosen.  The twin slag heaps of pit head 11/19 © G. Rouzeau/ViaMichelin Stromboli or slag heap?What really remains of the mines today? Slag heaps! These man-made conical or flat-top hills are an accumulation of waste from Earth's entrails and are typical of the mining basin scenery like the volcanoes in the Auvergne region of France. The twin slag heaps of pit head 11/19, located in the immediate vicinity of Lens at Loos-en-Gohelle, are over 186 m high. Apparently Europe's highest! The Chaîne des Terrils, a pioneering association created in 1986, lets you discover different aspects of them on history, fauna or flora trails. You absolutely must put your name down for one of these visits. They are eye-opening walks led by enthralling guides like Patrick Offe, for example, son of a miner who looks like a hard rock roady and speaks his mind. Slag heaps are now the safeguarded home to hundreds of varieties of plants, insects, birds and even batrachians. Today, after climbing up the black shales that recall Stromboli, an icy wind was blowing over the summit, but in summer the temperature can reach 60°C at ground level. So don't forget a cap and water bottle. In clear weather, you can see as far as Belgium (See our slide show).  Notre-Dame de Lorette © G. Rouzeau/ViaMichelin Remembrance of the First World WarBefore leaving Lens you should also meditate in one of the region's large military cemeteries. A soul-stirring visit! The 20,000 crosses at Notre-Dame de Lorette, the biggest French military necropolis, make you feel dizzy: it was the first time in history that officers and ordinary soldiers were laid side by side without any hierarchy. On the left, on entering, you'll see the tomb of a general next to that of a simple soldier. A bit further on, the grave of a father who died during the First World War is next to that of his son killed in the Second World War. On this windswept hill, the highest point in the Artois region, eight other ossuaries contain the remains of 22,000 soldiers from all the wars fought by France. Two monuments, a Romano-Byzantine style basilica and a 52 m lantern tower whose beacon pierces the night, break up the monotony of the site.  The Canadian National Vimy Memorial © G. Rouzeau/ViaMichelin Less austere, the Canadian National Vimy Memorial is a 110 hectare tree-planted park where the various Canadian species personify the unknown soldiers who fell here. This swath of land is the exclusive property of Canada and you are welcomed by smiling and dynamic Canadian students. In the centre of the park rises a colossal white stone memorial entirely renovated in April this year to mark the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy fought on 9 April 1917: it took three days of fighting for the 3rd British Army to wrest the famous Hill 145 from the Germans. 66,000 young Canadians perished in France during the First World War. More than just a memorial, this monument marks the birth of the historical awareness of the Canadian nation as evidenced by the number of tourists. Whole sectors of the park are still mined and therefore inaccessible except to the lambs that 'mow' the lawn by grazing. A network of underground galleries can now be visited. The closeness with the enemy lines is striking. You should also meditate at the German military cemetery at Neuville Saint-Vaast at the locality Maison Blanche, totally deserted except for a few partridges and rabbits that fled as we approached. Here, in the biggest German military necropolis outside Germany, some 40,000 soldiers rest in peace. The Tourist Office organises discovery trips to these necropolises on match days. Practical informationsLens Tourist Office26, rue de la Paix 62300 Lens Tel. : 03 21 67 66 66 Fax.: 03 21 67 65 66 info@tourisme-lenslievin.fr www.tourisme-lenslievin.fr Centre européen de la Paix 100, rue Pasteur 62153 Souchez Tel. : 03 21 72 66 55 Fax.: 03 21 72 66 51 lecentreeuropeendelapaix@wanadoo.fr www.tourisme-lenslievin.fr Discovery trip round the German cemeteries: Le circuit des Batailles d'Artois, Saturday8 September at 9.15 am. Trip centred on mining: De la Mine au Louvre-Lens, Sundays 9 and 23 September at 10 am. Discovery of Lens town centre and its facades, Lens, histoires de façades, Saturday 8 September at 11 am. In September, an audio-guided visit will be launched that you can download from the Internet (www.tourisme-lenslievin.fr or www.zevisit.com) to a mobile phone or an iPod rented from the Tourist Office. La Chaîne des terrils Rue de Bourgogne 62750 Loos en Gohelle Tel. : 03 21 28 17 28 Fax.: 03 21 43 25 95 chaine.des.terrils@wanadoo.fr chaine.des.terrils.free.fr |
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