Maison de l'ardoise de Rimogne

Useful Information

Location:	96 Rue Jean Jaurès, 08150 Rimogne. (49.840813, 4.540557)
Open:	School Holidays Tue-Sun, Hol 10-12, 14-18. JUN Tue-Sun 14-18. SEP Tue-Sun 14-18. OCT to MAY Sat, Sun 14-18. [2023]
Fee:	Adults EUR 7, Children (6-15) EUR 3, Children (0-5) free, Residents EUR 3, Unemployed EUR 3, Disabled EUR3. Groups (10+): Adults EUR 4.50, Children (6-15) EUR 2. [2023]
Classification:	Slate Mine Mining Museum Replica Underground Mine
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided Audioguides
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	yes
Bibliography:
Address:	Maison de l'ardoise, 96 Rue Jean Jaurès, 08150 Rimogne, Tel: +33-324-35-13-14. E-mail:
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

12th century	first slate mining.
1961	headframe of the Puits St Quentin erected.
1971	last slate quarries in the area closed.
1997	Maison de l'ardoise de Rimogne opened to the public.
2021	old quarries explored by cave divers from Belgium.

Geology

Description

Maison de l'ardoise de Rimogne (Rimogne Slate House) is a museum about slate quarrying in the small village. The slate museum in the village gives an introduction of the slate extraction, starting in the pit, bringing the slate to the surface, working the slate, and finally the living conditions of the miners and their families. Visitors get a tablet which is a sort of audiovisual museum guide. The museum shows a sort of simple mine replica, various models, machinery of the mine and the electrical power station, tools and lamps of the miners. There is also a space which is called Rimogne Fab Lab where 3D printers are demonstarted to school classes. And there is a temporary exhibition room which regularly hosts exhibitions and artistic events.

Mining at Rimogne was different from other slate quarries in the area. The slate was quarried at the bottom of a 185 m deep shaft named Puits St Quentin (Saint Quentin Shaft). The museum is located in a building which was erected in 1905 for the production of electricity for the mines. The mine is absolutely unique in this area, and for slate quarrying in general, the headframe is one of its kind, erected in 1961, only ten years before the mines actually closed. So there is actually a route through the town which starts at the museum and includes the church, the headframe, the Voûte, a wall built of the slag, and a row of typical miner's houses.

La Voûte (The Vault) was built for the foreman of the mines, and it had a unique stone tower at the facade with a vault containing a stratue of Saint Barbara, the patron Saint of the miners. The house is gone, but the tower with the staue is still there.