The Fontinettes boat lift: a unique immersive experience in Saint-Omer

Located in Saint-Omer, in the Pas-de-Calais, the Fontinettes boat lift is a jewel of French industrial heritage. Recently renovated, the site now offers an immersive audio tour in 3 languages, fully automatic and hands-free thanks to the S-Guide system.

An innovative experience that brings this exceptional 19th-century monument back to life.

A fascinating journey through time

Commissioned in 1888, the Fontinettes lift enabled barges to overcome a significant difference in level between two stretches of the Neuffossé canal. Today, the site comes alive again through the fictional testimony of its former keeper, who accompanies visitors throughout the tour. This vivid account plunges the public into the industrial world of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Thanks to authentic sound effects, visitors can experience:

• the mechanical noise of the lift in operation;
• the atmosphere of the industrial site;
• the activity of the barges and the workers.

Even though the lift is now out of service, the audio immersion faithfully recreates the atmosphere of the era.

An immersive, fully hands-free visit

The S-Guide headset offers a modern, intuitive audio experience: automatic content triggering, a tour available in 3 languages, hands-free use and a spatialized soundscape. Visitors can move around freely while being guided by the story and the sounds. This technology allows for smooth, autonomous and immersive exploration, perfectly suited to heritage sites.

The experience is designed to highlight the technical history of the structure, the region's industrial heritage and the emotion carried by the narrative testimony.

Complete your discovery at the interpretation centre

The visit does not end with the lift itself. An original interpretation centre, housed in a barge positioned in one of the lift's caissons, allows visitors to deepen their discovery: explanatory models, educational panels, technical information and regional historical context. A complete immersion to understand the site's strategic role in the economic and river-borne development of the region.

A must-see of industrial tourism in the Pas-de-Calais

The Fontinettes boat lift now stands as an emblematic monument of French industrial heritage, an innovative and immersive tourist site, an audio experience unique in France and an ideal cultural outing for families or groups. Through the combination of heritage restoration and immersive audio technology, the site offers a new way of visiting and understanding industrial history: a true journey through time, bringing the industrial past into dialogue with contemporary technology.