Why did the Louvre decide to expand in “one of France’s most impoverished regions, due to be built on the site of a derelict coal pit. Lens is currently a cultural desert, famous only for its football team and its deserted coal mines. The city, around 40 miles inland from Calais, was badly hit by industrial crises in the 1990s and unemployment stands at 12.7%, or three percentage points above the national average.”