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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Musée de la mine de Saint-Étienne, officially named Couriot musée de la mine, is housed in the buildings of the last well in St. Created in 1991, it preserves the industrial infrastructure of the Société Anonyme des Mines de la Loire, including the large washbasin (1948), the lamp factory, and the extraction machinery room. The site, classified as a historical monument in 2011, illustrates the climax of coal mining in the Stéphanois basin, with spaces restoring the life of miners and exhibitions over six centuries of mining history.

The Couriot well, built between 1913 and 1919, became the administrative seat of Sector West after the 1946 nationalization. Its 35-metre metal straddling, visible from a distance, symbolized the industrial power of Saint-Étienne. The museum offers a journey through the original buildings: the compressor room, the locomotive repair shop, and the recipes (cage loading areas). The still perceptible smells of coal and grease reinforce immersion in the mining world, while collections of lamps, tools and archives document daily work.

The history of the site dates back to the 18th century, with artisanal coal mining in the Beaubrun district. In 1893, the Société des Mines de la Loire absorbed the company of Beaubrun and modernized the installations, setting up the Couriot well to operate the 8th Grüner layer at a depth of nearly 700 metres. The well, which was arrested in 1973, was the last in operation at Saint-Étienne. Its ranking in 2011 and the opening of the Joseph Sanguedolce Park (2013) made it a place of memory and culture, labeled Musée de France.

The museum houses three permanent spaces inaugurated in 2014: The figure of the minor (works of art and archives), The great history of Couriot (maquettes and relief plans), and Six centuries of coal adventure (tools, photographs, relief plan of 1889). The site, used for film shoots between 1973 and 1991 (Judge Fayard, Le Brassier), also bears witness to social struggles, such as the 1948 strike and the occupation by the mobile guard.

Most of the buildings preserved date from World War I (offices, boiler room) and the post-war period (large sink, lamp factory). The concrete straddling of Châtelus 1 (1928) and the crassiers, visible from the city, recall the landscape footprint of the coal industry. The museum organizes cultural events (festivals, projections) and guided tours highlighting the technical heritage, such as the extraction machine frozen in its state of 1973.

The site is part of a territory marked by mining heritage, along with other preserved horse ridings (Puits des Combes, Puits du Marais). The real estate hive (1911), housing programme for miners, and the purchase of 5 km2 of land by the Loire Mines to limit urbanization illustrate the social and urban impact of the activity. Today, the museum works with associations such as Friends of the Mine Museum to preserve this collective memory.

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