The Royal Salt works of Arc-et-Senans

The Royal Salt works of Arc-et-Senans is an 18th century factory that was designed by Claude-Nicolas Ledoux.

The plant, which was created to produce salt, which at the time was of fundamental economic importance, has been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

With its unusual operation methods and exceptional architecture, the Salt works are also the result of the architect's philosophical reflection as he attempted to design the ideal workers' city.

Claude-Nicolas Ledoux was nothing if not visionary, Utopian and audacious, and imagined a community in which the worker, living in autarchy with his family, is "sheltered from the desires and deviations of those who live out their lives surrounded by temptation".

Eleven buildings are set up in a semi-circle (the intention being to represent the sun on its journey through the sky) around the Director's house, the large building at the centre of the arc, dominating the other buildings with all its manifest hierarchical superiority.
The Royal Salt works is a very prestigious monument which is now full off life, a proud member of the family of historical buildings of exception, thanks to the daring of its architect.

For almost 30 years now, the Claude-Nicolas Ledoux Institute has been housed there, making the site a European Cultural Centre.