The Saline Royale is one of the founding members of the ACCR, and has been a heritage site for culture (CCR) since 1972 with its projects on the theme of architecture, history of salt and creation. In 1982, it became the first industrial site to be added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
THE HERITAGE SITE
The Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans is the masterpiece of Claude-Nicolas Ledoux, visionary architect of the Age of Enlightenment. A salt production factory, it was created by the will of Louis XV and built between 1775 and 1779. Built in a semicircle, it functioned as an integrated factory where almost the entire working community lived. Made obsolete by the emergence of new technologies, it closed its doors in 1895. The Département du Doubs acquired it in 1927, thus saving it from ruin. In 1970, it became an international centre for reflection on the future. Serge Antoine, its president, created the CCR network with Jacques Rigaud in 1973.
THE CULTURAL PROJECT
Since 2009, the Royal Saltworks has been managed by a public cultural cooperation organisation (EPCC).
Loyal to the work of Serge Antoine, the long-standing president of the Royal Saltworks, Hubert Tassy has been developing a project for the establishment based on the triptych of ‘architecture, nature, music’ for values centred around preservation, transmission and training since 2015. The latest development projects have transformed the face of the Royal Saltworks.
· An immense Circle: a new landscape design that completes the existing semicircle of the Royal Saltworks and is inspired by the ideal city of Claude Nicolas Ledoux, inaugurated in June 2022. A project of 13 hectares and 30 gardens designed by landscape architects Gilles Clément, Vincent Mayot and Leïla Toussaint.
· The Centre de lumières: a very large immersive space, inaugurated in April 2023 and created with the company Iconem, to discover the sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List to raise public awareness of world heritage and the importance of its preservation.
A new auditorium and recording studios in Berne-Est, a former salt production site that is now home to the Saline royale Academy and the Orchestre français des jeunes.
ACTIVITIES AND ACTIONS
Based on its five permanent collections, the Saline royale offers guided tours of the monument in French, English and German. Visitors to the site can also use the Histopad tablet for children and adults, which allows them to discover the monument in augmented reality during the time of the salt factory, available in 10 languages. Portable Braille plaques for the blind or visually impaired and guided tours translated into sign language are available.
In parallel with the numerous artists' residencies hosted throughout the year, the Royal Saltworks develops an artistic programme consisting of temporary exhibitions, concerts, shows, conferences and a major festival of the Gardens, produced in partnership with 25 horticultural and landscaping schools, vocational training centres for adults and specialised institutes in eastern France and all the national landscape colleges. More than 500 pupils and students are welcomed each year for week-long sessions. By choosing to make children and families its priority, the Saline has developed a wide range of cultural mediation activities.
La Saline also runs a bookshop with a wide range of books on the theme of roots, a conference centre hosting more than 130 corporate events and 10,000 seminar participants per year, a 3-star hotel with 31 rooms and a variety of catering options.
A monumental site with a scientific and cultural programme that reflects its roots but also bears witness to the major issues of the contemporary world, the Royal Saltworks has strong local roots and enjoys a national and European reputation.