Phoenix of the mining basin, Lens is reborn from the ashes of coal

From the Louvre-Lens on the outskirts, surrounded by a vast open-access park, a network of pedestrian paths connects the city center via the renovated Bollaert stadium, a newly inaugurated Olympic swimming pool and a cinema under construction.

A strip along which Lens displays a renewed dynamism, symbol of the reconversion of the mining basin.

Certainly, the city "also suffers from the shopping centers on the outskirts", installed along the mining ring road which surrounds it, recognizes its mayor (PS), Sylvain Robert. They swarm at most of the exits from the mining ring road around the agglomeration of Lens-Liévin, 240.000 inhabitants.

The city of Lens itself “was, for a good while, asleep,” remembers Elisabeth Watine, 81 years old and president of the association of friends of the Louvre-Lens.

At the heart of the mining basin, it was hit hard by deindustrialization and its decline continued until the 2000s. “The shops closed, then the cinema…” remembers Chloé, 25, a native of Lens.

A planned decline that the municipality has been fighting since it joined the government Action Coeur de Ville program to give, according to its mayor, “another boost” to its center.

“Other views”

As for the outskirts, in 2012, just a stone's throw from the city limits, it erected the Louvre-Lens, the first off-site emanation of the famous Parisian museum.

Lens has since offered a leading cultural offering in a building located on a former mining pit, thus avoiding yet another conversion of wasteland into commercial space.

Today, “the way people look at us has changed. People realize that things are happening in Lens,” rejoices Martine Lannoy, 68, who has always lived in the surrounding area.

While Lens displays an unemployment rate of 26,7%, the museum, which aims to be "anchored in a territory", has set itself social objectives such as the fight against poverty and illiteracy, an "atypical" initiative for such a place, assures its administrator, Rémi Maillard.

It has also brought in its wake hotels, restaurants but also a project incubator, “Louvre Lens Vallée”, created in 2013 to help revitalize the region.

With the museum and the Racing club of Lens, second in Ligue 1 last season, "we are lucky to have two enormous assets", welcomes Sylvain Robert.

The priority was to connect these two emblematic places to the city center. “The stadium was a bit of a cul-de-sac,” remembers the city councilor, while the museum was on the other side of the railway tracks.

“Natural connection”

A new road was dug under them, and former "mining riders", railways connecting the pits together, were transformed into paths dedicated to pedestrians and bicycles in the heart of renatured spaces, a " natural connection from the museum to the city center" according to the mayor.

“The goal was not to create a second city center” but to bring audiences from the Louvre and Bollaert back to the city center, he adds.

As for the legendary stadium, owned by the city, it was renovated for Euro-2016 and is full for each local club match, a rarity in France.

“The arrival of the museum has restored strong confidence among local stakeholders,” assures Benoît Brocq, director of the Artois metropolitan center, a joint union which extends over three urban areas, including that of Lens-Liévin.

“We need students, researchers, high-level executives. And it’s easier to attract when you have a museum and a brand as strong as the Louvre-Lens,” he adds.

The transformation took place under the patronage of the slag heaps which surround the town, visible from the museum gardens or the outskirts of Bollaert and, now, tourist destinations.

With the Louvre and football, “we have a different and additional card to play” compared to other medium-sized cities, believes Sylvain Robert, which makes the Lensois model difficult to imitate.