Parc d'Uckange

Information

We discovered this location using Google earth. We visited the location in march 2009 during the Urbex Tour de France. From a distance it all looked quite nice. When we went in, it was clear that it was converted to a touristic centre. You actually have to pay to take a walk around the buildings. It would be a nice location to climb at night. However during daytime the video surveillance is strict.

History

The blast furnaces were built in 1890 by the Germans, who conquered the province of Lorraine in 1871. From 1960 to 1980 the province had a bad economic period. Most of the iron mines were exhausted. All mines had to close due to European regulation. Importing iron ore so deep into France was simply way to expensive. So the blast furnaces also had to close down. The last furnace was shut down in 1991. In 2007 the site was converted to a tourist park, which opened in 2008. It is open during the summers.