Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans

Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans
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The Saline Royale (Royal Saltworks) at Arc-et-Senans, in the forest of Chaux near Besançon, France is notable as an early Enlightenment architectural project to rationalize industrial buildings and processes according to a philosophical order.

The saltworks' buildings were designed by architect Claude-Nicolas Ledoux. Construction began in 1775 during the reign of Louis XVI. The semicircular complex was planned to reflect a hierarchical organization of work. It was to have been enlarged with the building of an ideal city, but that project was never constructed.

Year Decision Comments
2009ExtendedTo include Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bains
2009Name changeFrom "Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans", To: "From the Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bains to the Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans, the production of open-pan salt"
1982 Inscribed Reasons for inscription

Reviews

David Berlanda (Italy / Czech Republic):
In our trip to France we have visited the beautiful royal saltworks of Arc-et-Senans, constructed from 1775 to 1779 under Louis XVI on the project of Claude Nicolas Ledoux, since 1771 Inspector General of the saltworks of the Jura, a Royal monopoly, and are the only ones built of the ideal cities planned by him for this industrial complex. It is the first work of the industrial architecture, inspired to the ideal of progress of the Enlightenment, built to permit a rational and hierarchical organization of the work. It was constructed to treat the salt deposits by evaporation: the saline water was brought here from Salins-les-Bains, 21 km away, and channelled by a system of double canalization composed of wooden cylinders and protected by control towers, manned by the Army. The water was evaporated in huge vats heated by fire with wood taken from the forest of Chaux. The buildings functioned until 1895. The city was organized around a factory whose buildings were layed out in a semi-circle around the Pavilion of the Director (with the stables behind it), flanked by two halls, the firing ateliers, where were the vats. The semi-circle was used for lodgings and workshops of the coopers, the blacksmiths, the workers and the ironsmiths, for the guards’ building (the entrance) and for the buildings of the administration of the saltworks and of the administration fiscal. As its symmetrical counterpart, Ledoux had foreseen another semi-circle with a church, an exchange, a hospital, a market, public baths... The revolutionary architecture of the buildings, inspired to the Doric and Tuscan styles use geometric volumes with many inventions, like the ringed columns of the pavilion and of the overseers, a grotto with concretions that evoke melted salt...
I liked this site because of the quality and originality of its architecture. It's one of the most interesting industrial sites and it's worth to be visited if you are in the region of France County. It justifes the inscription also because there aren't many other industrial sites on the WHL, even if could be inscribed together with the nearby saltworks of Salins-les-Bains (currently on the Tentative List).
Photo: Arc-et-Senans – Pavilion of the Director and firing ateliers of the Royal Saltworks
Date posted: March 2006
Paul Tanner (UK):
When we visited the Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans we were not really aware of what we were going to see. We were somewhat surprised to discover a site much broader in concept than the title might imply. It comprises a planned town of the late 18th century which was developed around a factory to produce salt from nearby saline deposits in the Jura using wood from local forests as the fuel. As a product of the Enlightenment it is set out on “rational” grounds in a semi circle (although in its original concept it was to be a full circle). Some of the buildings (photo) follow classical designs. A lot of reconstruction has taken place – it was badly damaged by fire in 1918 and a dynamite explosion in 1926. A number of the buildings (each had a very specific purpose in the overall design and that of the “Overseer” is a fine structure) are open and contain exhibitions showing the history and production processes.

The site presents an interesting example of 2 different WHS themes, Town Planning and Industrial Architecture, whose development can be traced across other eras and countries elsewhere in the list (eg New Lanark and Brasilia!). It is for that reason, in my opinion that Arc-et-Senans, justifies its inscription. Michelin may only give it 1* and it is true that the buildings and exhibits taken individually are nothing special but, taken as a whole, and as part of the wider concept, it is well worth visiting.
Date posted: June 2005


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