La Fabrique des savoirs
The Fabrique des Savoirs (Knowledge Factory) was set up by the city and is the cultural and educational heart of the city of Elbeuf. It plays a clear role within the city’s network of major facilities, including the 106, H2O and the Kindarena.
This multidisciplinary facility, located on a 12,000m2 site in the heart of Elbeuf’s Blin quarter, boasts three hubs.
THE CITY’S CULTURAL HUB
Museum
Founded in 1884 on the basis of Pierre Noury’s private collections, the museum’s collections include nearly 45,000 works, objects and stuffed animals. A workshop room enables the museum to run activities for the public.
The Seine acts as a true connecting thread, linking the museum’s three main sections: natural sciences, archaeology and industrial heritage. The museum’s location within the centre and the development of the museum project give a more comprehensive take on the area.
Centre d’Interprétation de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine (CIAP)
Under the “Towns and Lands of Art and History” label awarded by France’s Ministry of Culture and Communication, the Centre d'Interprétation de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine (CIAP - Architectural and Heritage Interpretation Centre) aims to raise public awareness of the local heritage.
A permanent exhibition of models and audiovisual equipment regarding the area’s transformation and architectural and urban evolution unfolds over 200m2. Temporary exhibitions complement this permanent one.
Archives
The Heritage Archives Centre collects, classifies, preserves and highlights the historical and contemporary archives produced by the municipalities of Caudebec-lès-Elbeuf, Cléon, Elbeuf, Freneuse, Orival, Saint-Pierre-lès-Elbeuf, Sotteville-sous-le-Val and Tourville-la-Rivière, as well as by various institutions within the Elbeuf area, since the sixteenth century.
The attic reading room welcomes academics, students, researchers and individuals. Several computer workstations, one of which is dedicated to referencing microfilms, are available to readers.
Exhibitions, discovery tours and workshops are arranged for the academic community and the general public.
Over the course of history...
Located within the former Blin et Blin factories, the Fabrique des Savoirs (which translates into English as the Knowledge Factory) opened its doors in 2010. With its red bricks, vast spaces and very unique saw-tooth roof, this building is a great testimony to the industrial epic of Elbeuf.
The city’s area was profoundly influenced by the textiles industry. In Elbeuf, the first traces of drapery activity appeared at the end of the fifteenth century, and a royal factory was founded there at the end of the seventeenth century. The 1871 arrival of Alsatians fleeing the annexation of their region by Germany led to numerous industrialists becoming established, who set up their huge mechanised factories to the south of the city. Included amongst these Alsatians was the Blin family.
The success of their company enabled them to expand rapidly. An annex was therefore built in 1890 to house wool mixing, deburring, sizing, warping and weaving workshops. It is in this building that the Fabrique des Savoirs is housed today. In the 1920s, the Blin et Blin company covered an area of almost 100,000m² and had over 2,000 workers.
However, Blin et Blin could not escape the textiles crisis of the 1960s-1970s, closing in 1976. The city refused to abandon these buildings and completed an extensive redevelopment in the early 1980s, transforming the workshops into housing and shops. Thirty years later, the city completed this transformation by opening the Fabrique des Savoirs up to the public. It offers various activities and exhibitions that enable everyone to discover its heritage.