Industry landscape

The heart of Moselle is located on the old coal basin. In the 19th century, the industrial revolution led to a high consumption of coal. And even if the coal adventure is now over, you can still see mining estates, mineshafts and architectural complexes which remind us of the glorious industrial past of the region.

Area of Rémering

Access : D63 – At the end of rue de Merten (D63)

57550 RÉMERING

Outdoor artwork in memory of the town’s rich mining past : a headframe, a coal car and a miner’s statue cut from a cast iron plate welcome you in a bucolic landscape.

It is located at the crossroads of the “Panoramas” circuit (11.1 km) for hikers, and the “Entre Nied et Warndt” circuit (18 km) for cyclists.

Headframe of Sainte-Fontaine

Access : Rue du Chevalement

57500 SAINT-AVOLD

Built in 1954 by the Houillères du Bassin de Lorraine – HBL (Mining Basin of Lorraine), it closed for the first time in 1972, to return in service in 1979, before closing definitively in 1986. This site is still maintained today.

The headframe-portico is listed in the supplementary inventory of Historical Buildings, it is unique in Lorraine. Indeed, there are only three copies of the same type that are known in the North of the country. It is made up of two pairs of pushchairs on each side, an independent square front and it serves a shaft with double extraction compartment.

Extraction tower of Fürst

Access : Rue Alexandre Dreux

57730 FOLSCHVILLER

It is a strange metal tower, 58 meters high, that looms in the sky. Unique in Lorraine, the “hammer tower” is part of the landscape of the coal basin. This is the old coal-mining tower of the city of Fürst. The headframe is made up of two extraction compartments, with two machines at the top.

Built in 1948, the tower is listed in the supplementary inventory of Historical Buildings.

Barrois quarry

Overlook access : Rue de Saint-Nicolas

57490 L’HÔPITAL

Wild and natural landscape, these impressive cliffs are the result of the exploitation of the deposits of the coal basin.

At the beginning of 1900, the 300 hectare basin was filled with Vosges sandstone. Its ocher or red (variegated) color sets the tone and atmosphere of the place. This very friable rock was used for backfilling the galleries from which the coal had been extracted.

Download the walk tour in the quarry

New in 2025 : the Grand Duc trail in the L’Hôpital/Saint-Avold quarry
A 5.7 km trail will take you through the Carrière de l’Hôpital/Saint-Avold, as shown below (source: CASAS)

Brick houses

57490 L’HÔPITAL

Rue du maréchal Foch, Rue de la Gare, Rue de Saint-Avold, Rue de Carling…

The yellow or red brick houses were developed at the same time as the mining towns. There are around sixty of them in the town of L’Hôpital, the oldest dating from 1904.
Note the name “with bricks” : the bricks constitute a simple facing on the walls built of local stone. These houses have a very urban and modern architectural style for the time (friezes, moldings). The investment in real estate from the inhabitants reflected their confidence in the future of the coal industry.