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In Perspective, Planet: Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans

M

Michael Nagel

Well-known member
Salt is something everybody uses, a commodity, nothing special and yet, salt was a sign of wealth, it created wealth and was among the factors that sparked the French Revolution.

Salt played also a role in more recent history - remember the Salt March.

The Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans - an UNESCO World Heritage Site (official Website in French) - are an example of early utopist architecture, created by Claude Nicolas Ledoux.

This is a first glimpse - I will expand this.



Best regards,
Michael
 
M

Michael Nagel

Well-known member
Production of salt from brine was a transport issue until mid 19th century - the wood needed to evaporate the water had to be transported to the salt works and when the surrounding landscape made this difficult, brine sources had to be abandoned as it was too costly to transport the wood to the salt pans installed next to the sources.

This nearly happened to the Salt Works at Salins-les-Bains.




The idea was to build new Salt Works at a place with a better supply of wood and to transport the brine through a saumoduc - one of the very early pipeline constructions (in service in 1779) to the new salt works.



The salt pans are no longer in Arc-et-Seanans, the buildings are used for concerts and other events.





More to follow...


Best regards,
Michael
 
Cem_Usakligil

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
It was a nice tour of the facilities you have given us Michael, thanks for that. I have been to salt processing sites in Brittany and in Camargue, but this setting is quite different. You have done a good job with the pano. Despite the very wide field of view, the projection seems more or less natural thanks to the perspective you have chosen and the lack of details in the foreground. I am also intrigued about the columns in front of the director's house. Square blocks intertwined with cylindrical ones. It seems like a well spent day during your holidays, you taken a good stab at documenting the place thoroughly.
 
M

Michael Nagel

Well-known member
Cem,

Thank you. The panoramas were necessary to show the layout of the site, glad that there are not too many mistakes. There is more to come.

My main interest in this site is owed to the fact that this is one of the very early examples of industiral architecture combined with an unique utopist approch thanks to the imagination of Ledoux.

The work in these salt works was hard. These below were taken at Salins-les-Bains.

Here you see the opening to heat the pan to evaporate the water. The little pillars hold the pan whan installed.



The pan was made out of individual tiles riveted together.



Here you see how the workplace looked like. On the salt pan is the tool to scrape the crystals off the salt pan (crytallisation was mainly on the pan), the shovel to put the wet salt on the roof-like structure to dry the salt and to put it in the wheelbarrow when dry to transport it to weigh it and store it afterwards. The temperature close to the salt pans was 50°C to 60°C.



The brine is pumped in a cavern below the pans, the pump is still powered by water and the power is transmitted by a short flatrod system.



Best regards,
Michael
 
M

Michael Nagel

Well-known member
I do not have an explanation on the pillars, just another view:




The stable for the horses of the director bears the same round window on top.




There are interesting details:





The gardens are still well-kept:





Making salt from brine was one of the very early industrial processes, there are buildings that are no longer present like the Graduation Towers that werde destroyed.
The vision of a factory by Ledoux was a holistic one - it was not only focused on the production process, but included the life of the people working there. Other buildings than the large ones (Berne) included rooms and kitchens, a place to live for the people working there. This was not a luxury appartment of course...

Best regards,
Michael
 
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