Coming in from Arras by train I immediately ticked off this site when I stepped off the train in Lens; the Gare de Lens is part of the inscription. From the station I headed into town and ticked of all locations in Lens. This included a World War 1 memorial for the fallen citizens, a unionist memorial, the historic union building, a worker housing district and the former headquarters of the mining company. Unfortunately, the signposting is lacking, so I found myself repeatedly wondering if I had found the site or not.

After Lens I headed to Liberville to get a bit more of the industrial feeling of the site. From the train window several furnaces and mines could be seen, some of them part of the inscription.

In Liberville I found myself lost again, wandering around a simple neighborhood and looking for the site and its OUV. I guess, the neighborhood itself was the site. The area wasn’t really touristy and the one furnace in town closed, so I decided to call it a day and head on to Lille by train.

Looking back, I found Lens rather interesting and would recommend it as a good place to explore the site. There are no mines and furnaces in Lens, though. Instead this is where the workers lived. I guess they took the same train line I did to get to the work in the mines every day.

The former wealth on display is impressive. When you stand in front of the headquarters of the mining company in a lavish park, you are more reminded of an absolutist palace than of an office building. Nowadays it houses a university and I assume during the week you would be able to enter it.

In sum, the site tries to give a more complete picture of the life in the area in its industrialization heyday. I especially found the political aspects interesting and different from what I had seen before in the UK, Belgium or Germany. Also due to the area being a prime World War 1 battleground the area has many relatively modern buildings (post 1918).

With the sheer amount of inscribed components it’s hard to really know how great the site really is. Of the locations I have seen, most were rather mediocre or underwhelming. I doubt this will ever be a popular tourist destination. Similar to other serial nominations I think this would have profited substantially by limiting itself to the best examples in the area and not the very generous approach chosen. Finally, it’s questionable, why this wasn’t combined with the nearby sites across the border in Belgium.

Getting There and Around

The area has plenty of public transport options. The towns along the train line from Lens to Lille are more or less all part of the inscription. France being France you get great connections by TGV to everywhere else in France. Only challenge I faced where the frequency of trains over the weekend. Google maps holds all information you need.

While You Are There

There are plenty of Belfries to see along the way. In Arras you will also find one of Vauban’s fortifications. A bit further South is Amiens Cathedral. Finally, you can always cross into WHS rich Belgium.

Looking a bit into the future, the area is also dotted with WW1 memorial sites. Several WW1 memorial sites are already part of this inscription, but these are for the local French citizens defending their home country.

For anyone travelling to Lens if you have some time, you can visit the local branch of the Louvre. You won’t the Mona Lisa, but the crowds should be way lesser.

Notes

Several reviewers mention the mining museum in Lewarde. However, it does not seem part of the inscribed locations. If you want to go to a museum, one possibility is the mining and rail museum in Oignies (CMCF) near Liberville, which is a location of the site. Be advised that their opening hours are rather odd.

Word of advice: Several of the locations shown on our map for Lens were off. Not by too much (200m max), but with proper signposting in short supply and the rather difficult to spot quality of the sites this was an issue. For Lens all locations are corrected now.