Musée de la Sidérurgie, de la Mines et la Minéralogie

Useful Information

Location:	Centre Langevin, 6B Rue Alfred Cortot, 59760 Grande-Synthe. A16 exit 54 Shopping center, after 1 km at roundaubout turn right, after 480 m turn left, after 190 m left again Rue Claude Debussy, after 170 m roundabout right Rue Alfred Cortot. Signposted. (51.0125280, 2.2859100)
Open:	All year Sat 14-16:30. [2023]
Fee:	free. [2023]
Classification:	Mining Museum Replica Underground Mine Coal Mine Iron Mine
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided, D=75 min.
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	yes
Bibliography:
Address:	Musée de la Sidérurgie, de la Mines et la Minéralogie, Centre Langevin, 6B Rue Alfred Cortot, 59760 Grande-Synthe, Tel: +33-328-21-63-69, Tel: +33-625-63-40-82.
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

mid-1970s

museum opened to the public.

Geology

There was no mining in Grande-Synthe, which is located at the channel on top of a Mesozoic Basin. Coal was mine further south, steel in othe parts of France, but mining ended and the raw materials were delivered by ship from the world market and the factories relocated to the harbour.

Description

The Musée de la Sidérurgie, de la Mines et la Minéralogie (Museum of Iron and Steel, Mining and Mineralogy) is also known as Musée de la Mine Grande-Synthe (Grande-Synthe Mining Museum). However, both are pretty complicated, so the museum ist often simply called Musée de la Mine (Mining Museum). This name now is quite generic, and there are actually dozens of Musée de la Mine in France. It seems it was also known as Musée de la Mine Joël-Fontaine (Joël-Fontaine Mining Museum) at some point. We have no idea who Joël-Fontaine was. The museum is operated by the non-profit Association les Anciens Mineurs.

The museum actually has a quite spectacular exhibition about mining. This includes two different replica mines and a 1:25 model of a mining site. There are historic documents, photographs, tools and machinery, and even a kitchen from the 1930s. This is quite spectacular and probably compensates the fact that it is located in an are were never any mines existed. It is located on the channel coast near Dunkerque, not far from the Belgian border. It is also located in the middle of a suburb, in a residential area. As far as we understand, a lot of former miners came here to work in the steel factories. They brought a lot of memorabilia with them to an area, which had no idea of mining, and so they founded the association to keep their mining heritage and tell the story of life mines.

The museum explains different kinds of mines, collieries as well as hard rock mines. The problems and techniques were quite different, which is the reason why they have two different replica mines. Collieries has problems with gunshots or firedamp and they explain the tools and safety materials against accidents. Spectacular is also the large electrified model of an easel.

The mining exhibition is completed by two more exhibitions. The Musée de la Sidérurgie (Steelworks Museum) was created and designed by the workers of the steel industry united within the APRUD. The exhibition traces the different phases of steel production: from raw materials to products derived from cast iron and steel. Actually, the end of the mining was the reason why the steelworks were relocated in the second half of the 20th century colser to the coast. The ores and the coal were now bought on the world market and processed immediately when they reached the harbour, which is the reason why this museum is located here. The second exhibition is the Musée de la Minéralogie (Mineralogy Museum), which is run by Adremap, the association pour le développement, la recherche et l' etude en matière de minéralogie archéologie et paléontologie (association for the development, research and study of mineralogy, archeology and paleontology). It seems the extremely long and complicated name is the reason why they are always called by their acronym. A permanent exhibition of minerals and fossils with several main topics gives an insight into the geological history of the different resources. A black light room allows the observation of luminescent and fluorescent minerals. And finally there is a room with 3D projection, microscopes, mineral recognition software, and saws.