Lens, Pas-de-Calais

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Lens

Lens
Location within Nord-Pas-de-Calais region Lens
Coordinates: 50°25′56″N 2°50′00″E / 50.4322°N 2.8333°E / 50.4322; 2.8333Coordinates: 50°25′56″N 2°50′00″E / 50.4322°N 2.8333°E / 50.4322; 2.8333
Country	France
Region	Nord-Pas-de-Calais
Department	Pas-de-Calais
Arrondissement	Lens
Canton	Chief town of 3 cantons
Intercommunality	Communaupole de Lens-Liévin
Government
• Mayor (2001–2008)	Guy Delcourt
Area
• Land¹	11.57 km² (4.47 sq mi)
Population (2006)
• Population²	36,257
• Population² Density	3,100/km² (8,100/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	62498 / 62300
Elevation	27–71 m (89–233 ft)
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. ² Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Lens (French pronunciation: [lɑ̃s] ( listen)) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. It is one of France's large Picarde cities along with Lille, Valenciennes, Amiens, Roubaix, Tourcoing, Arras, and Douai.

Metropolitan area

Lens belongs to the intercommunality of Lens-Liévin, which consists of 36 communes, with a total population of 250,000. Lens, along with Douai, forms the metropolitan area of Douai-Lens, whose population at the 1999 census was 552,682.

History

In the 1520s, Lens was part of the Spanish Netherlands, and only passed back to France in 1659.

In 1849, coal was discovered in Lens, leading to the expansion of the city, becoming an important industrial center.

At Vimy, a small town very close to Lens, are the Vimy Memorial and Vimy Ridge.

Since 2012, Lens is the location of the Louvre-Lens.

Gallery

East of Pas-de-Calais (Béthune, Lens, Hénin-Beaumont)
Lens church
Main shopping district

References

INSEE commune file

External links

Official web site (French)
Communauté d'Agglomeration of Lens-Liévin (French)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lens (France).

Communes of the Pas-de-Calais department

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