Biver (Bouches-du-Rhône)
Biver is a district of the municipality of Gardanne in France Bouches-du-Rhône in the region Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur . The village, which used to live from mining, has more than 4000 inhabitants. There is a special rivalry with neighbors, which is particularly evident in football matches.
In the center of the village there is a white statue of St. Barbara , the patron saint of miners.
history
With the boom in mining in the second half of the 19th century, the village developed rapidly. As early as 1782, the use of coal replaced the previously used firewood . The very first mines filled with water and had to be abandoned by the workers. At that time, children between the ages of nine and 14 were digging the coal. In 1827 the Gardanne mines were already in danger of falling into disrepair. At the same time, the factories in Marseille needed more and more fuel. But in the mines there were inhumane working conditions with temperatures of 45 degrees. At that time there were 80 illegal and 200 abandoned shafts in the Gardanne- Peynier - Fuveau region alone . In 1854 the young Belgian engineer Ernest Biver decided to work in the mines of Gardanne. He implemented new work techniques that simplified coal extraction. He died 16 years before his big project, the construction of a tunnel to La Madrague (district of Marseille), was implemented. In 1926 the village was named after him. The mines were still in operation for a long time, only closing in 2003.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Biver on the Gardanne website ( memento of the original from January 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed September 8, 2011
- ↑ Fabienne Barre: Le Fond et la Surface: Photographies du Bassin Minier de Provence. Retrieved September 8, 2011 .
Coordinates: 43 ° 26 ′ 2 " N , 5 ° 27 ′ 58" E