Museum of the mine of Saint-Etienne

French museum creates in 1991 on the territory of the town of Saint-Etienne (the Loire - the Rhone-Alps), under both dumps which dominate the south-west of Saint-Etienne.

Presentation

Named officially “Couriot Site, Museum of the mine”, installed in the buildings of the last well inhabitant of Saint-Etienne (closed in 1973). The site saw two generations of well cotoyer (the wells Châtelus I and II at the 19th century, then the Couriot well at the 20th century).

This museum makes us visit in outside the buildings of a true mine: the large wash-hand basin (the expression " room of the pendus" was not then employed in the Loire, the minors spoke rather about the " lavabo"), the engine room and lamp-making (maintenance workshop of the lamps).

In an underground gallery reconstituted with the various techniques of supportings, the visitor discovers the history of the mine with Saint-Etienne. The visit recalls in particular the developments in the technologies of extraction, the daily life of the workmen, the advent of the industrial age, the use of foreign labor, the strikes and the social progress which were gained there of brave fight. The progressive end of mining in the area is also evoked there.

The museum is also the framework of cultural programming (live performance, film projections, festivals).

Buildings of the day

It offers a coherent unit preserved relatively well and profit from a seizing landscape prospect. If buildings of washing and sorting installed on the low platform (the " plaster ") were demolished, the buildings in which the minors circulated daily one preserved. They date either from the preliminary draft (contemporaries of the First World War) or of the post-war period (built in 1948 in the context of the Marshall plan and the ECSC).

In its most recent configuration, the site could accommodate 2.000 minors and several hundreds of workmen of surface. Today one can discover the two working wash-hand basins, the offices of the administration, the old control of the workmen, two lamp-makings, the room of energy, the engine room and the building of the receipt day with the head-frame.

The site was for a long time the " vitrine" , seat of the Public limit company of the Mines of the Loire. It was the most important well of the basin until the years 1930 and remained after the nationalization of 1946 a model well equipped with buildings of administration.

The day installations of the Couriot well answer the need for making circulate on same space man, coal and material. In order to efficiently manage the circulation of flows to the accesses of the well, the site was organized according to a system of arranged platforms with hillside (probably with the site of old careers). An original diagram of which there remains the only witness today.

History of the site

Located at the west of Saint-Etienne, near the old suburbs of Tarentaize and Polignais, the site of the Couriot well represents a surface of 15 ha (30 ha by counting the dumps). It constitutes the vestige best preserved and most complete testifying to the carboniferous activity of the basin inhabitant of Saint-Etienne. The installation of the Couriot well such as one can see it today is explained by the presence of an important coal vein " 8th Grüner" and by the proximity of the way of railroad St - Etienne - Puy allowing the transport of coal.

1850: Beginning of the sinking of Châtelus I

1857: Beginning of the sinking of Châtelus II

1907: Project of sinking of Châtelus III which will become the Couriot well, the 1st World war will delay work.

1919: Beginning of the operation of Couriot (depth: - 116 m under the sea level are more than 650 m of depth).

1928: New concrete head-frame of Châtelus I.

March 1st, 1941: Visit and speech of the marshal Pétain.

October 1948: Burden, the mobile guard occupies the site. Birth of the second Dump.

1969: Caving of the well Châtelus I.

1971: Beginning of the dismantling of Couriot.

April 5th, 1973: Closing of the Couriot well, the cables are cut.

1991: Opening of the museum of the mine.

Today, a project of installation of the low platform (the " plaster ") is in hand, a city park should be born there.

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