UNESCO has recognised the historical importance of former coal mining districts in France and Belgium by making them World Heritage Sites.
France’s 120,000-hectare Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin, containing old pits and 140-metre-high slag heap, has been made a World Heritage Site to preserve its mid-19th century workers’ houses and mining villages.
Four Wallonian mining sites in Belgium were given World Heritage Site status to protect their early industrial “utopian architecture” that dates back to the end of the 17th century.
The new World Heritage Sites plan to cash in on their status by developing major heritage based tourist and leisure industries.
PH/WH
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