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Origin and history

The Bompard factory, located in Lezoux in Puy-de-Dôme, is an old industrial site built around 1866 by the brothers Antoine and François Bompard. It housed a pottery factory, part of a local tradition dating back to Gallo-Roman times, when Lezoux was a major centre of ceramic production for the Roman Empire. The buildings, organised around a courtyard, combine stone and brick, with vertical ovens still visible.

In 1920, the company became the Manufacture de grès et potteries, a former Bompard house, but ceased to operate after World War II. Repurchased by the city of Lezoux in the 1980s, the site was transformed into a municipal museum, then departmental in 1999 after rehabilitation. Joined the historic monuments in 1989, it preserves two aland kilns and exhibits collections related to ancient and modern ceramics.

The departmental museum of ceramics, installed in these walls, highlights the local ceramic heritage, from Gallo-Roman workshops to 19th-century productions. The factory thus illustrates the continuity of artisanal and industrial know-how over more than two millennia, while at the same time testifying to the industrial architecture of the second half of the 19th century.

The central location (39-41 rue de la République) and the preservation of original structures, such as cylindrical furnaces, make it an emblematic site to understand the economic and technical history of the region. The transfer of property to the General Council of Puy-de-Dôme has enabled a complete restoration, preserving both the building and its cultural vocation.

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