The last mine in Lens was closed in 1986, and although the industry that once was the lifeblood of the city was gone, it was not forgotten.
There are two monumental slag heaps on the horizon, that look like they might have been made by an ancient civilization, the cityscape has masses of brick houses for miners and the former offices of the mining company Lens are a university lecturer. The lens is finding a new direction, as the Louvre-Lens makes clear, with its world-class exhibition and permanent collection. There is also a new, powerful museum on World War I, suitable for Lens on the western front. Discover the best things to do in Lens.
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1. Louvre-Lens
One pillar was once an elegant minimalist construction, the first satellite attraction for the legendary Louvre Museum in Paris. The museum opened in 2012 and so far attendance has exceeded expectations.
There's a vast space for temporary exhibitions lasting three months, and things like Rubens and Leonardo da Vinci have all appeared in the past.
The permanent exhibition is also absorbing, as it’s one long corridor that proposes a journey through the history of time, starting with Mesopotamian sculpture and slowly guiding you to the modern age.
2. Lens’ 14-18 Centre d’Histoire Guerre et Paix
Using the latest museum techniques and calling for an impressive array of archival footage (over 60 hours), 5,000 contemporary photographs and maps, this museum provides the backdrop of World War I.
The modern building is structured around the black concrete blocks described as the mosque, and informs visitors of all the main points, from trench warfare to the last 1918 attacks. The conflict has ended.
There’s also a commemorative space for the 600,000 casualties in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais from 1914-1918.
3. Les Terrils Jumeaux, 11/19
Close to the Louvre-Lens is two gigantic black pyramids, the largest slag heaps in Europe, and a constant reminder of Lens’ coal mining history.
If you wonder what these numbers mean: 11 represents the number of my axes below the metal head frame (dating back to 1894), while 19 is the number below the concrete concentration tower, was installed in 1960. Nature has started to reclaim the slag heaps, with 159 animal species recorded and plants from Oceania and Africa.
With challenging slopes, they’re not an easy proposition to climb, but the scenery from the peaks will quickly make you forget the toil.
4. Église Saint-Léger
A church has stood at this location since the 900s, but every one of them has suffered from war damage, whether it was the Thirty Years’ War in the 17th century, the First World War or the Second World War.
As we see it now Saint-Léger is an 18th-century neoclassical design rebuilt brick by brick in the 1920s after being razed by shelling in the First World War. The only item that survived is a statue of the Virgin Mary from the 17th century. It was picked from the rubble and is in the chapel devoted to the Great War dead.
5. Gare de Lens
If you enter or leave the Lens by train, perhaps you can allow a few minutes to get a glimpse of the station, opened in 1927 and encapsulated the art of the time. The architect was Urbain Cassan, and he had a bit of a job on his hands to counter the dangers of subsidence caused by mining.
His answer was to make the building modular so the hole wouldn’t be compromised should the ground sink beneath one part. With its circular arches (wheels) and a 23-meter clock tower (chimney), the station was intended to evoke a steam train.
And inside there are beautiful tributes to the Lens mining industry, with stereoscopic mosaics created by Auguste Labouret.
6. RC Lens
The local football team has won the French league title in the last 20 years and has a very rich heritage. But in recent years, Lens has been loitering between Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, the top two floors of French football, and is currently finding itself in second place.
And yet, the future looks interesting for Sang Sang and Or Gold (blood and gold), in part because their stadium had a timely innovation for Euro 2016 when it hosted four matches. can match and can hold 35,000 fans.
If they do make it to Ligue 1 see if you can witness the passion and color of the Derby du Nord against Lille OSC.
7. Nécropole Nationale de Notre-Dame-de-Lorette
On the way from Arras to Béthune, and more than ten minutes from Lens is the largest military cemetery in France. There are 20,000 individual graves, as well as eight common graves where around 22,000 anonymous soldiers have been buried.
The cemetery is on the site of a swathe of land that was occupied by the Germans for most of the war and saw huge losses in 1914 and 1915, some of the worst in the Artois region. The cemetery was inaugurated in 1925 along with the 50-meter Lantern Tower, which symbolizes the flame of remembrance.
In 1914, a new international monument, a memory ring, was established, with the names of 600,000 soldiers who fell in this part of France between 1914 and 1918.
8. Canadian National Vimy Memorial
The Battle of Vimy Ridge in 1917 was of great significance in Canada because it was the first time four divisions of the Canadian expeditionary force had participated in the same attack.
So later the site was chosen for the Canadian war memorial, commemorating their soldiers who have no known grave. The memorial, with its twin white pylons rising to 30 meters, was completed in 1936 and the entire site was restored 10 years ago.
Canadian students come to work at Vimy Ridge in the summers, giving tours and providing snippets of information. What is equally fascinating and profound is the way the trenches on the battlefield have been frozen in time by concrete.
9. Lille Sights
France’s fourth city is less than half an hour by road and has an old center calling out to be explored. It has another opportunity to get unusual architecture in this part of France, with gables and styled brilliance. The Vieille Bourse (Old Stock Exchange) needs to be your first port of call.
It is from the middle of the 17th century and there are 24 very richly decorated houses around a central courtyard filled with booksellers and people engrossed in chess matches.
10. Lille Culture
It’s no exaggeration to declare Lille’s Palais des Beaux-Arts one of the best French museums outside Paris. The influence of low nations is also unmistakable here, with contributions from van Dyck and Jacob Jordaens, but also previous Dutch and Flemish painters such as Dirk Bouts and Jehan Bellegambe.
Donatello, Goya, Delacroix, and Courbet are all present, for an art party on a short trip from Lens. There’s also a modern art museum in the suburb of Villeneuve d’Ascq, known as the LaM.
Here, Picasso, Braque, and Miró are all represented, but the museum stands alone with its huge collection of Art Brut, spread across five different galleries.
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