[2010]
Groups (+): Adults EUR 0.75.
[2010]
Clay Mine
| Location: | Coopérative vinicole, Avenue Gambetta, F-83170 Tourves |
| Open: |
All year Wed-Fri 14-17, Sat 9-12, 14-17. [2010] |
| Fee: |
Adults EUR 1, Children (0-12) free. Groups (+): Adults EUR 0.75. [2010] |
| Classification: |
Clay Mine
|
| Light: | electric. |
| Dimension: | |
| Guided tours: | |
| Photography: | |
| Accessibility: | |
| Bibliography: |
Claude Arnaud, Jean-Marie Guillon ():
Les Gueules Rouges, un siècle de bauxite dans le Var,
176 pages, A4 size, 139 photos, over 50 documents |
| Address: |
Mairie de Tourves, Service des régies, Place de l''Hôtel de ville, F-83170 Tourves, Tel: 0494-787795.
E-mail: |
| Last update: | $Date: 2011/12/13 08:52:14 $ |
| 2003 | museum opened to the public. |
This museum with the unbelievable long name Musée des Gueules Rouges du Var et de la Bauxite (museum of the red earth of the Var and of the bauxite) is dedicated to two really special resouces typical for the Provence. It is an exhibition with some 900 exhibits on the local earth mining. Soft sediments or earths exist in the area in abundance.
Well known, since the Stone Age, are the red and brown ochre sediments. Those are composed of silt and a high amount of oxidized iron, which is responsible for the coulour. Dependend on the temperature during the sedimentation the colour changes. Those rocks are mines, sortted by colour and milled into a fine powder. This powder is the base of many colours.
The second important resource is bauxite. The white silt-like earth exists in the Provence in abundance. Type locale is the small village Les Baux in the Provence. It is a remains of chemical weathering, the aluminium oxides which are part of aluminium rich feldspars are dissolved less easily than the rest of the rock, as a result they remain in huge layers. The importane of this resource is a result of the developing chemical science. After scientists discovered how easily bauxit can be split into its components using electricity, aluminium became an important basis of daily life.
The museum is dedicated to the early mining history in this area. The men went to open cast mines to collect the soft earth with picks and shovels.
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