Saline royale d’Arc-et-Senans

The Saline royale of Arc-et-Senans was included on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1982. It is the masterpiece of Claude Nicolas Ledoux (1736-1806), a visionary architect of the Age of Enlightenment. It is also a rare example in the history of industrial architecture. Destined to produce salt, it was commissioned by Louis XV and built between 1775 and 1779.
The Saline royale operated as an integrated factory, where almost the entire working community lived. Built in a semi-circle shape, it comprised both living quarters and production spaces, i.e. 11 buildings in all. After becoming obsolete with the emergence of new technologies, the Saline royale closed in 1895. It had been abandoned, pillaged, and then damaged by fire in 1918 before the Département of Doubs purchased it in 1927, saving it from ruin.
Three successive restoration campaigns, which were completed in 1996, restored it to its former glory.
The architectural part of the Saline royale, its history and its restoration make it a world-unique monument, open to everyone. Temporary and permanent exhibitions, new gardens, concerts, artistic residencies, children’s activities, conferences and innovative experiences take place here with every cultural season.
It also houses a 3-star hotel, a conference centre, a bookshop-gift shop, and offers home-made food for individuals and groups.
Today, the Saline royale is reinventing itself with the landscaping project, Un Cercle immense (A Vast Circle), to enrich the five-hectare visitor trail.