In 1982, the Royal Saltworks (Saline Royale) at Arc-et-Senans (25 Doubs, BCF) was included on the UNESCO world heritage list. Designed by Claude-Nicolas Ledoux (1736-1806), a visionary architect in the Enlightenment period, the Royal Saltworks site is a rare and an exceptional example of industrial architecture history. The site was designed for the production of salt, (then a treasured commodity) commissioned by Louis XV, and built between 1775 and 1779.
Almost all of the employees at the Royal Saltworks lived on the premises near the production site. It was built in the form of a circular arc, and included both the dwellings and the production sites. In all, there were 11 buildings: the Director’s house, the Stables, the East and West Salt Buildings, the Eastern and Western Workers (Commis) buildings, the Eastern and Western Dormitories (Berniers) Buildings, the Cooperage, the Guards Building, and the Farrier/Blacksmith.
Garden Festival
In late spring, the Salt Works hold a garden festival (Festival des Jardins) with a different theme each year – 2 June – 20 October 2024. Located behind the buildings, on the site of some former workers’ vegetable patches, the gardens, rich in shapes and colours, provide a change of scene. The uniqueness of the garden festival lies in its remarkable educational project involving several hundred students from numerous establishments offering a variety of educational and training opportunities. see Saline Royale
Hotel
Whenever you visit you can stay at the 3-star hotel on site Hotel La Saline Royale – an opportunity to stay inside a UNESCO World Heritage site and be able to explore the grounds when the site is closed to the public!!
For more info on this 3-star hotel see Hotel La Saline Royale
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