Musée de la mine de Bruay

Centre d'interprétation de l'habitat et du paysage miniers à Bruay-la-Buissière

Useful Information

Location:	457 Cours Prom. Kennedy, 62700 Bruay-la-Buissière. A26 exit 62 Bully-les-mines, D301 15 km, turn off Berck Le Touquet/Divion St Pol, D302 1 km trun left. Signposted. (50.478721, 2.537174)
Open:	All year Mon 14, Wed 14. [2023]
Fee:	Adults EUR 5, Children (10-16) EUR 2.50, Children (0-9) free, Students EUR 3. Groups (15+): Adults EUR 4.50, School Pupils EUR 2.50. [2023]
Classification:	Coal Mine Écomusée Replica Underground Mine
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:
Guided tours:	D=90 min, L=400 m.
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Musée de la mine de Bruay, 457 Cours Prom. Kennedy, 62700 Bruay-la-Buissière, Tel: +33-663-04-72-90. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1855	beginn of coal mining.
1959	General de Gaulle visits Bruay and descends well n°6.
1979	coal mine closed.
1989	museum opened to the public.

Geology

Bruay lies at the heart of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais coalfield.

Description

Musée de la mine de Bruay (Bruay Mining Museum) is the abbreviation of the quite longish name Centre d'interprétation de l'habitat et du paysage miniers à Bruay-la-Buissière (Centre for the interpretation of the mining habitat and landscape at Bruay-la-Buissière). The museum is dedicated to the geology, the coal mining, and the later use to produce natural gas, the shaft n° 5 de Bruay was used for this purpose. One topic is the evolution of tooling techniques, methods of coal extraction, and prevention against dangers like dust and firedamp. Firedamp is the most feared danger because it causes massive explosions, but poisonous gases and rockfall were also quite dangerous. As a matter of fact coal mining is much more dangerous than, for example, iron ore mining, because the coal itself contains the gases and the huge amount of removed material makes the mine unstable.

The museum includes an underground mine tour of a 400 m long passage. It shows the supports of wall and ceiling, the mining techniques and machinery, and the means of transport, from horse-pulled carts to modern narrow gauge mine trains. The gallery is not an actual mine gallery as they are either collapsed or were flooded when the pumps were turned off. Like all coal mines this is a mine replica, which was reconstructed by former gueules noires (black faces) in eight years of voluntary work. Gueules noires is the local term for coal miners, quite obvious because they always had black faces when they came out of the mine. The tours are held in French, English, German, and Polish, as far as we know with audioguides. We were first irritated by the Polish language, but actually a huge percentage of the miners originated from Poland, and so there is a

The museum shows two films: one on coal mining, the other on the descent of General de Gaulle to well n°6 of Bruay in 1959.

As far as we know it does not explain the negative long-term effects of mining. The municipality is at risk of mining subsidence in the event of flooding, which is a general risc in the lowland of the coastal plains. So the Bruay Dam was completed in 2009 to prevent floods. In other words, a possible flood would not only destroy buildings with water, it could also cause the collapse of mines and create sinkholes which would cause further damages and even kill people.