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Grande Saline de Salins-les-Bains
The Grande Saline de Salins-les-Bains is a historic salt production site, operational for over 1,200 years until 1962 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2009 Utilising naturally salty spring waters, it played a pivotal role in the region’s economy and led to the establishment of the Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans, connected via a 21 km wooden pipeline. Today, visitors can explore its 13th-century underground galleries and a functioning 19th-century hydraulic pump.
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Saline royale d'Arc-et-Senans
The Saline Royale d’Arc-et-Senans (Royal Saltworks) is an 18th-century industrial complex in eastern France, designed by architect Claude-Nicolas Ledoux and built between 1775 and 1779 to produce salt from brine piped in from Salins-les-Bains. Its semi-circular design—combining production facilities, worker housing, and administrative offices—embodies Enlightenment ideals of order and function. Though salt production ceased in 1895, the site has been preserved and repurposed, earning UNESCO World Heritage status in 1982.