CAP’DÉCOUVERTE
The Tour de France was the first in 2003 to pay a visit to Cap Decouverte, the leisure park which replaced the open air coalmine known as Grande Decouverte when it was closed in 1997. On the 650 ha of the site were created a museum of the mine, a boating base, a synthetic ski piste and several animations and music festivals. Six communes are linked to the project which created dozens jobs and attracts some 100,000 visitors per year. The site has been conceived for thrills: a skate park, a water ski lift, paintball are among the many activities on offer. Restaurants, a hotel and a campsite on the spot also make it possible to stay on site. Culture has not been neglected since Maison de la Musique became the most popular concert hall in the area.
Cap Decouverte was the idea of several local politicians looking for an ambitious way to revive the huge open air mine. An audit in 1999 helped public money to be invested in the project which overcame criticism and initial problems to become an important landmark in the area.
UNFORGETTABLE JAURES
Born in Castres in 1859, Jean Jaures discovered Carmaux in his first electoral campaign in 1885. He was elected on a departmental list. Beaten in the 1889 election, he was again elected member of Parliament in 1893 when the Knight of Solages, the mine owner, resigned over the 1892 miners strike.
In spite of his support to the striking glass house workers and his involvement in the creation of a glassware cooperative in Albi, the Socialist candidate was beaten in 1898 after expressing his support in the Dreyfus scandal. Elected once again in 1902, he remained Carmaux MP until his death. Several locations recall the action of Jaures in the area: houses, halls in which he held meetings with the former peasants turned miners who called him “lou nostre Jenanot” (our Johnny).His memory is evoked by his statue, inaugurated in 1923, in the Castle Museum dedicated to coal and glassware or the Cultural Centre that bears his name. The workers club or the former club de la Montagne, open after the 1883 strike have seldom changed since the Jaures days.
It is hard to imagine the scenes of grief which followed the announcement of his assassination in Paris in 1914. Jaures had been a symbol of hope for the whole of France and even more so in Carmaux. When his statue was demolished by vandasl in 1981, the mobilisation to have it rebuilt proved that his prestige was intact.
One thing Lance Arsmtrong did not like on the Tour was heat. In the 12th stage of the 2003 edition, a 47-kms time trial between Gaillac and Cap Decouverte, the American found everything he hated: 61 degrees on the road, 38 in the air. And it is probably why the seven times Tour winner suffered that day his only defeat to rival Jan Ullrich in a TT. It was five years since the German had last won a Tour stage, another time trial in 1998. Armstrong sounded confident, claiming that the stage would neot make big difference. How wrong he was! Alain Gallopin, then the team director of Ullrich’s Bianchi team, had booked a hotel room on the course to make sure the German had time to check it. In the morning, he even had Ullrich train in an air-conditioned cycle shop to get progressively used to the heat. The plan worked to perfection. Even though Armstrong finished second and retained his yellow jersey, he lost 1:36 to Ullrich. It was ony his second defeat against the clock since 1999. The Texan explained he was completely dehydrated towards the finish. Yet it was only a lost battle and Armstrong went on to win the Tour.
Castle Museum
An exhibition on the history of coal and glass in the 19th century is held in the renovated buildings of the first glass factory built in 1752. The social and cultural evolution of the area was dictated by the exploitation of coal which became a major part of local life. The Castle of the marquis de Solages was destroyed by fire in 1895.
Jean Jaures statue
It was sculpted by Gabriel Pech and inaugurated in June 1923. Destroyed by an attack in 1981, it was rebuilt as a copy of the original. In 1983, the new statue was unveiled in the presence of the mayor, the director of daily L’Humanite, created by Jaures, and Socialist leader Lionel Jospin.
Old hospital
The hospital was built between 1882 and 1891 for the Carmaux mine company by architect Valatx and opened in1891. It was destined for injured miners. A chapel was added in 1948. In 1992, it became a cultural centre.
