Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The site of the Puits Perret, located in Saint-Pierre-la-Palud in the Rhône department, is an emblematic vestige of mining iron and copper pyrite. This well, which was transformed into a main site between 1920 and 1928, retained its metal straddling, extraction machine and various industrial buildings, illustrating the industrialization of local mining activity from 1840 onwards. The Perret family then started mining the Sain-Bel and Chessy mines, marking a key period for the regional economy.

The Perret well, the only one to have preserved its surface facilities, was transferred to the commune in 1972 after the final closure of the mine. Its infrastructure, built of bricks, chewer and metal structure, was listed as historical monuments on 17 February 2010. The protected elements include horse riding, the recipe, the building of the extraction machine, as well as grinding and crushing workshops, reflecting the mining techniques of the time.

Built into the Mine and Mineralogy Museum since 1982, the site was redesigned in 2002 to allow visitors to visit its facilities. The museum, housed in an adjacent modern building, completes the discovery with exhibitions on paleontology and a reconstituted gallery. This dual site, both technical and educational, perpetuates the memory of the mining activity that shaped the territory until 1972.

The architecture of the Perret well's tile, with its emergency post added after 1934, reflects the evolution of mine safety standards. The materials used, such as chewing, also highlight the economic and technical constraints of the mining industry in the early twentieth century. Today, the site offers a rare example of preserved industrial heritage in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.

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