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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Cuvelette of Freyming-Merlebach is a reinforced concrete chivalry of the front-square type with two pushers, built between 1930 and 1932 for the Compagnie des Mines de Lens. This architectural model, characteristic of the 1920s-1930s, is directly inspired by the chivalry built in Nord-Pas-de-Calais by the same mining company. Its inscription as a Historic Monument in 1992 (for southern horse riding) highlights its heritage importance in the Lorraine industrial landscape.

The structure, located in Freyming-Merlebach (Moselle), illustrates the mining expansion of the region in the early twentieth century, marked by the adoption of modern techniques such as reinforced concrete. This type of horse riding, designed to support the extraction cages, symbolizes the era of the late Industrial Revolution in France, where the coalfields of the Grand Est and Hauts-de-France played a major economic role. Today, the site remains a material testimony of the social and technical history of coalfields, although its property is now owned by a private company.

The Cuvelette horse riding is distinguished by its approximate location (noted 5/10 in precision according to the Merimée base), with an address associated with the Puits Cuvelette in the municipality. Its current state — open or closed to the public — is not specified in available sources. The photograph of the monument, licensed under Creative Commons (credit: Bourgeois.A), documents its utility architecture, typical of the mining infrastructures of the inter-war period.

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