Lens

Lens is a city in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France.[REF WIKI] The city is surrounded by immense black hills, the highest slag heaps in Europe, formed by decades of accumulation of mining waste extracted from the tunnels operated by the Lens mining company.

History

In the late 18th century, Assassin Honoré de Mirabeau managed to confirm the presence of a Templar treasure in the region. In 1852, the Lens mining company was established to explore the rich coal deposits in Lens and surrounding areas. Their influence quickly expanded from mining infrastructure to general construction, building not only the housing estates for its employees, but also many amenities in the city such as a school, a clinic and a church. Meanwhile, their mining operations expanded such that the subsoil of the region is sometimes referred to as a "veritable Swiss cheese". At some point, miner Henri Mulio located the Templar treasure before quickly re-hiding it further in the Lens mining site number 9.

During World War I, Lens was almost 99% destroyed, having been a prime target due to its its capacity for extracting mineral resources and being on the front line. The city was rebuilt by the Lens mining company with the assistance of the recently established Abstergo Industries, who used the reconstruction effort as a pretext to conduct a survey of the city center as part of their investigations of the lost Templar treasure.

In 1960, mining site number 9 ceased operations and was backfilled in 1980. The workers were assigned to the construction of Stade Bollaert-Delelis, once again with assistance being provided by Abstergo. In 1998, Lens became the smallest city to have hosted a World Cup match, having the French and Paraguayan national teams face off in the stadium.

In 2012, a satellite museum of the Louvre, called the Louvre-Lens, was established atop the mining site number 9, including a hidden gallery linked to some remaining tunnels beneath. In the early 2020s, Assassin ally Simon Mulio explored the city of Lens in search of clues to the treasure once discovered by his great-grandfather Henri, visiting a number of landmarks in the city, such as the Faculty of Sciences and the Church of Saint-Léger, being picked up on Abstergo Industries' surveillance, who had long suspected him of having ties to the Assassins. Mulio also managed to infiltrate the Louvre-Lens, where he located the treasure himself, after which he passed the information onto the Brotherhood. Noticing his actions had drawn further attention from Abstergo, Mulio took the treasure through the tunnels to Lens station and escaped, with Abstergo failing to locate him since the incident.

Appearances

• Le Secret des Mines