En Friche
Antoine Bruy

Located in the far north of France, the region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais was the cradle of a huge industrial expansion that started in the nineteenth century and was based on coal mining. By the time that mining operations were abandoned at the end of the 1980s, 852 pits had been constructed, 326 slag heaps had accumulated, and more than 100,000 kilometres of tunnels had been dug. These have had a permanent effect on the topographical, urban and demographic landscape of the region.