A Chemin de la mémoire to remember the shipyards

On January 7 at the corniche Giovannini, on the gates of the Atelier mécanique, Nathalie Bicais, mayor of La Seyne-sur-Mer, inaugurated 30 panels, translated into English, retracing the history of the shipyards from 1856 to 1989, the year of their closure. This exceptional industrial site, today a huge brownfield, employed more than 5,000 people. 1,444 creations (ships, oil platforms, weaponry, incineration plants, escalators...) were manufactured here for more than a century. This official event took place in the presence of representatives of AMIANS, CRCN, Amis du Laborieux, Argonautes, Amis de La Seyne ancienne et moderne, and Histoire et Patrimoine Seynois.

INDUSTRIAL TOURISM

“These panels retrace the history of these giants built in La Seyne-sur-Mer that have crossed all the seas of the world. This reminds cruise passengers heading to the city center that it was here that these treasures of ingenuity were developed,” recalled the mayor. “For a long time, we wanted to recall the history of these buildings. Beyond the classes de la Navale, the rehabilitation of the tugboat Le Laborieux, the visit of the Pont-Levant, the virtual site Archistoire, this Chemin de la mémoire prefigures the eco-museum on the upper floor of the Porte des chantiers,” she continued. In front of about twenty former shipyard workers present, Lucien Conac, president of the Association pour le Maintien des Intérêts des Anciens de la Navale à La Seyne (AMIANS), added: “We are happy that the work undertaken serves a dedicated place of memory, at the Porte des chantiers.” Indeed, the City will release a sum of €12,000 which will finance the reconfiguration of the upper floor into an eco-museum, located in a building belonging to the Métropole TPM. Entrusted by the Centre de ressources de la construction navale (CRCN) to the archives department, the photographs or engravings retrace the great moments of the life of the shipyards, from 1856 to 1989. Industrial tourism enthusiasts can admire the entry of the cruise ship Atlantic into New York Bay in 1982, the launch of the ore carrier Lens in 1958, or even aerial views of the shipyard, dominated on both sides by the famous Titan cranes. In April 2024, the City, under the impetus of Nathalie Bicais, launched a call for projects for the redevelopment of the Atelier mécanique and its surroundings. The latter aimed to find private partners wishing to rehabilitate this exceptional site to offer hotel, tourism, cultural, or maritime activities.