In Salins-les-Bains, the great saline tells a thousand years of salt history

Active for a thousand two hundred years, the great saline of Salins-les-Bains (Jura) experienced its peak in the 17th and 18th centuries. It used up to 800 people, who led to evaporation and drying of “white gold”, so precious for the conservation of food until the invention of pasteurization and then freezing.

Witness of workers’ memory

In 1962, production stopped, “but almost immediately, says Anne Ackermann, director of the Great Saline, the curiosity of the public manifested”. So that in 1966, the municipality bought this two hectare site in the heart of the city, and opened it up to visits in 1968. Today, the industrial complex received 85,000 people per year while continuing its restoration work.

“This building was registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2009, at the same time as the famous Royal Saline of Arc-et-Senans (Doubs), 20 km away. The sites were connected by wooden conduits which sent the salt water from Salins there, explains Anne Ackermann. It is a unique witness to technical heritage, the Franc-Comtoise economy and workers’ memory. ”

Salt marketed again

In parallel, a project is being studied to open one of the historic buildings of the factory in order to present one of the storage swimming pools of the brine and the salt packaging workshops. The dynamism of the place is also measured by a slight recovery of the exploitation: two companies in the region – the chef Fabrice Piguet and the company with the little happiness – produce and market the salt of Salins -les -Bains again.