Lens, Pas-de-Calais
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| Commune of Lens | |
| Location | |
| Longitude | 02° 50' 00" E |
| Latitude | 50° 25' 56" N |
| Administration | |
|---|---|
| Country | France |
| Region | Nord-Pas-de-Calais |
| Department | Pas-de-Calais (sous-préfecture) |
| Arrondissement | Lens |
| Canton | Chief town of 3 cantons |
| Intercommunality | Communaupole de Lens-Liévin |
| Mayor | Guy Delcourt (2001-2008) |
| Statistics | |
| Altitude | 27 m–71 m |
| Land area¹ | 11.57 km² |
| Population² (1999) |
36,823 |
| - Density (1999) | 3,182/km² |
| Miscellaneous | |
| INSEE/Postal code | 62498/ 62300 |
| ¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 mi² or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
| ² Population sans doubles comptes: single count of residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel). | |
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Lens is a commune in northern France, in the Pas-de-Calais département. It is one of France's large Picarde cities along with Lille, Valenciennes, Amiens, Roubaix, Tourcoing, Arras, and Douai.
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[edit] Metropolitan area
Lens belongs to the communauté d'agglomération of Lens-Liévin (Communaupole) which gathers 36 communes, with a total population of 250,000 inhabitants.
Lens, along with Douai, forms the metropolitan area (in French: aire urbaine) of Douai-Lens, whose population at the 1999 census was 552,682.
[edit] Economy
The city is an industrial and mining centre and has a long history of coal mining. Surrounding the town are many large slag heaps.
[edit] Miscellaneous
The city supports a top-level football team, Racing Club de Lens.
Very close from there, the Vimy Memorial, is at Vimy Ridge.
Lens will also be from 2009 the location of the Louvre-Lens.
[edit] Famous Lensois
- Émile Basly, trade unionist then mayor of the city, died there in 1928
- Maurice Garin, first winner of Tour de France, died there in 1957
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Town council website (in French)
- Communauté d'Agglomeration of Lens-LiévinCatégory:Sous-préfecture
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