Louvre-Lens Museum

Not to be missed! The collections of the Louvre in a building designed by Japanese architects SANAA, awarded the Equerre d’argent (Silver T-square) prize in 2013 and the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2010. The Louvre-Lens Museum was inaugurated on 4 December 2012, the highly symbolic Feast Day of Saint Barbara, patron saint of miners. The site chosen for the establishment of this sister to the prestigious Parisian museum lies between the tallest spoil heaps of Europe and Bollaert Stadium. The site is made up of a string of buildings of transparent architecture with glass and aluminium façades. The Louvre-Lens Museum offers the public an unprecedented journey through the collections of the Louvre Museum with a view behind the scenes. It has already attracted more than two million visitors since 2012.

With the Galerie du Temps which exhibits works transversally through time in a single space, temporary exhibitions designed to surprise the visitor and an idyllic setting in this green archipelago, the Louvre-Lens Museum has rapidly succeeded in becoming one of the most visited museums in the region.

The Museum Park, a wonderful link between the museum, the city and the surrounding area, highlights the history and memory of mining. Thus, the paths follow the route of the horsemen of yore, and the railways that linked the mining pits to the station to transport the coal. The site’s historic entrance and the mineshafts are also preserved and integrated as reference points. The virtues of the surrounding area are also shown off from the park, such as the twin spoil heaps of the 11/19 pit and the characteristic mining villages.