Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Saint-Pierre parish hall was built within the framework of the mining city n°11 of Lens, built by the Compagnie des mines de Lens from 1894. It was part of a coherent package including housing, schools, church and community facilities, designed to meet the needs of minors and their families. The city, initially made up of 300 houses, expanded after 1899 with 104 new houses, and Saint Peter's church was completed in 1900. A festive hall, inaugurated in 1907, complemented these developments, reflecting a neo-regionalist architecture marked by wide roofs and a variety of architectural details.

During the First World War, the installations of pit 11 and its city, like most of the mining infrastructure in the region, were completely destroyed. The reconstruction lasted until 1925, when the city had about 1,600 houses, becoming one of the largest in the Lens Mining Company. The parish hall, the church (rebuilt in 1923 with two distinctive bell towers), the schools and the dispensary formed a quadrilateral dedicated to education and religious life, illustrating the social and community organization of mining towns.

The Saint-Pierre parish hall, classified as a historical monument on November 25, 2009, embodies the industrial and social heritage of the mining basin. Its architecture and function reflect the importance of community facilities in the lives of minors, while at the same time testifying to post-war reconstruction. Today, it is part of UNESCO's world heritage (since 2012) at site #63, alongside the surrounding burrows, pits and mining towns, symbols of a significant industrial and human history.

The pit n°11, called Saint-Pierre or Pierre Destombes, was named in honour of Pierre Destombes, administrator of the Compagnie des mines de Lens. Its operation, begun in 1894, was part of a network of pits with similar architectures, opened between the late 19th century and the First World War. The nationalization of the Company in 1946 and its merger with the Lievin Group in 1952 led to the concentration of activities on pit n°11-19, before its final closure in 1986. The adjacent earths (No.74, 74A, 74B), now protected, recall the intense extractive activity that shaped the landscape and the local society.

External links