Overview

SABATIER. A director of the company gave his name to that coalmine, which is located near Raismes, a few miles away from Valenciennes, in the eastern part of the coal field of the Nord-Pas de Calais region. The mine was closed about ten years ago. What is left of it today ? Some fairly spoiled buildings, when you look at them closely, on which nature patiently grows back. If you care to enter the bank of the mine, you may visit several buildings, from the guard’s house, which is overgrown with ivy, to the sieve, changing-room (called « hangmen’s room ») and showers. But the most fascinating part is the large and bright mill, with its mining machines, control levers and dials. Everything is still there. When you come out, you get an urge to run around the pithead frames as if they were the Eiffel Tower or the towers of Notre-Dame. You steps resonate on the rusty metal staircase, and you end up high above the surrounding setting : the forest of Raismes-Saint-Amand is very close.