ASPIBD

ASPIBD (Association pour la Sauvegarde du Patrimoine Industriel du Bassin de Decazeville) is a French heritage association based in Decazeville, in the Aveyron department of southern France. It operates the Musée du Patrimoine Industriel et Minier de Decazeville, a museum devoted to the industrial and mining history of the Decazeville Coal Basin, a landscape shaped by coal, steel and zinc. The association was founded on the initiative of former miners and steelworkers, who wanted to keep alive the memory of the industries that built their region. The association's mission is organised around three strands. First, it safeguards and manages heritage: it collects machines, archives, photographs and oral testimonies, and takes part in the rehabilitation of industrial buildings so that the physical imprint of the region's history is preserved. Second, it promotes and exhibits this heritage: it publishes books on the history of the Basin and keeps the museum alive through permanent collections and temporary exhibitions, including shows by regional artists. Third, it transmits and raises awareness through conferences, guided visits and events aimed at a wide public, with the stated aim of inspiring the future. The museum's collections and programming are rooted in the industrial chronology of the area. The website traces the story from the medieval "puech que ard" (the burning mountain) and the "foc sulfrenc" (sulphur fire) through the small hillside "charbonnières" of the fifteenth century, to the creation in 1826 of the Société des houillères et fonderies de l'Aveyron under the impetus of the Duke Decazes and the engineer Cabrol. The first cast iron flowed from the Forézie blast furnace at Firmi on 23 December 1828, and the town of Decazeville grew rapidly around its pits and works, becoming a commune in 1834. Later episodes include the Watrin affair of 1886 and the absorption of the local company by Société Commentry-Fourchambault in 1892. Mining continued until the closure of the last open-cast mine in 2001. ASPIBD is a small, locally rooted non-profit organisation rather than a commercial enterprise. Its public face is the museum in Decazeville, which opens on limited days and hosts temporary exhibitions, conferences and publications. Recent activity highlighted on its website includes reduced opening hours in late September and October, a 2026 temporary exhibition of previously unpublished photographs from a private album illustrating the general strike of the Basin's miners, notably at the Campagnac mines in Cransac, and a conference at the La Strada cinema in Decazeville on 19 June marking two centuries since Elie Decazes filed the statutes of the Houillères et Fonderies de l'Aveyron in 1826.

ASPIBD is a heritage association created on the initiative of former miners and steelworkers of the Decazeville Basin. Its purpose is to keep alive the industrial memory of a territory shaped by coal, steel and zinc, and it does so through a museum, publications, exhibitions, conferences and participation in the rehabilitation of industrial buildings. The history the association preserves begins long before industrialisation. In the Decazeville Basin, the existence of the "puech que ard" (the burning mountain) and the "foc sulfrenc" (sulphur fire) is attested in very old chronicles. From the thirteenth century the state sought to redistribute mining concessions, meeting opposition from the local population. In the fifteenth century local owners worked small hillside mines known as "charbonnières"; coal was carried by donkey to the Auvergne or Rodez, and by barges on the Lot as far as Bordeaux. The industrial revolution transformed the area. With the French Revolution the mines were placed at the disposal of the Nation. In 1826 the Société des houillères et fonderies de l'Aveyron was created under the impetus of the Duke Decazes and the engineer Cabrol, both inspired by English industry. On 23 December 1828 the first cast iron flowed from the Forézie blast furnace at Firmi, with the help of British trainers, marking the start of a new era. The town of Decazeville, which did not yet exist, developed at great speed around its pits and works and became a commune in 1834. In 1886 the Watrin affair brought Decazeville tragically into the media spotlight: the engineer Watrin became the focus of popular resentment in a time of recession, and his defenestration during a demonstration left a lasting mark. In 1892 the Société Commentry-Fourchambault absorbed the local company and made major investments to modernise its infrastructure. The website's history page follows this story from the Middle Ages to the closure of the last open-cast mine in 2001. ASPIBD's own activity is organised around three declared missions. It safeguards and manages heritage by collecting machines, archives, photographs and testimonies and by taking part in the rehabilitation of industrial buildings. It promotes and exhibits by publishing works on the history of the Basin and by running the museum with permanent collections and temporary exhibitions of regional artists. It transmits and raises awareness through conferences, visits and events for all audiences. The association's public face is the Musée du Patrimoine Industriel et Minier de Decazeville, whose website reports current opening arrangements, temporary exhibitions and conferences. Among recent programming, the museum announced reduced opening hours in late September and October (Wednesday and Friday afternoons only), a 2026 temporary exhibition of unpublished photographs from a private album documenting the general strike of the Basin's miners, particularly at the Campagnac mines in Cransac, and a conference at the La Strada cinema in Decazeville on 19 June, two hundred years after Elie Decazes filed the statutes of the Houillères et Fonderies de l'Aveyron in 1826.

• 2001

  Closure of the last open-cast mine in the Basin.

• 1892

  Société Commentry-Fourchambault absorbs the local company and invests in modernisation.

• 1886

  The Watrin affair brings Decazeville into the media spotlight.

• 1834

  Decazeville becomes a commune.

• 1828

  First cast iron flows from the Forézie blast furnace at Firmi on 23 December.

• 1826

  Société des houillères et fonderies de l'Aveyron created under the impetus of the Duke Decazes and the engineer Cabrol.

A local heritage association and museum preserving the industrial and mining memory of the Decazeville Coal Basin.

• Musée du Patrimoine Industriel et Minier de Decazeville

  Museum with permanent collections and temporary exhibitions on the industrial and mining history of the Decazeville Basin.

• Historical publications

  Books published by the association on the history of the Basin.

1. 1aspibd – Decazevillemusee-patrimoine-industriel-minier.net
2. 2Histoire – aspibd – Decazevillemusee-patrimoine-industriel-minier.net
3. 3ASPIBD – Wikidatawikidata.org