Arc-et-Senans and Salins-les-Bains: The Royal Saltworks and the Salt Galleries
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France
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250
XP
+100 France
= 350 total
1 day
Arc-et-Senans and Salins-les-Bains: The Royal Saltworks and the Salt Galleries
250 + 100 XP
Claude-Nicolas Ledoux built the Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans between 1775 and 1779, one of the first great works of industrial architecture, and from 1779 until it closed in 1895 the brine came from Salins along a double pipe of hollowed fir trunks 21.25 km long. Arc-et-Senans was UNESCO-listed in 1982 and the Salins saltworks joined it on 27 June 2009. At the Grande Saline of Salins-les-Bains you go down about fifty steps into a barrel-vaulted 13th-century gallery 165 m long, and the town's spa, ThermaSalina, bathes you in the same salt water.
Required Activities
1
of 3
Stand at the director's house at Arc-et-Senans and trace Ledoux's half-circle out to both ends of the 370 m diameter, then find in the Tonneliers building the Musee Ledoux and its models of the town of Chaux he designed and never built
2
of 3
Go down into the 13th-century gallery at the Grande Saline, walk its 165 m of barrel vault 6 to 7 m high between the two wells, and find the salt-water pumps still working down there, drawing brine at 330 g of salt per litre against the 30 to 40 g in a litre of sea water
3
of 3
Float in the salt-water pools at ThermaSalina in the same brine the saltworks boiled, piped from the Puits a Muyre, which has fed the baths at Salins since 1854, and the Puits des Cordeliers, added in 1994
Stand at the director's house at Arc-et-Senans and trace Ledoux's half-circle out to both ends of the 370 m diameter, then find in the Tonneliers building the Musee Ledoux and its models of the town of Chaux he designed and never built
Go down into the 13th-century gallery at the Grande Saline, walk its 165 m of barrel vault 6 to 7 m high between the two wells, and find the salt-water pumps still working down there, drawing brine at 330 g of salt per litre against the 30 to 40 g in a litre of sea water
Float in the salt-water pools at ThermaSalina in the same brine the saltworks boiled, piped from the Puits a Muyre, which has fed the baths at Salins since 1854, and the Puits des Cordeliers, added in 1994
Before you go
The underground gallery at Salins can only be seen on a guided visit, about an hour, leaving at fixed times, and the walk between the parts of the site is outdoors, so take a coat: the gallery stays near 12 degrees. ThermaSalina's relaxation pools open afternoons only from Monday to Saturday, with longer hours on Sunday, and are closed on 1 May and 24, 25 and 31 December.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
250 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
350 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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