Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Royal Linen Factory Le Dijonval, located in Sedan in the Ardennes, was founded in the 17th century under the impetus of a royal privilege granted in 1646 to three Parisian merchants, including Nicolas Giftau. This privilege allows them to produce fine sheets "like Holland", an exclusive in France for 20 years. Installed in the suburb of the Cassine, on a site initially called plain of Ijonval (corrupted later in Dijonval), the factory becomes a major pole of the French drapery, competed locally by other workshops such as Antoine Rousseau ("the big dog"). The first installations, including a house and a dye shop, date back to the 1660s, but a fire in 1870 destroyed part of the original buildings.

In the 18th century, the Paignon family acquired the site in 1711 and began its expansion. Nicolas-Jean Paignon, then his descendant Jean-Baptiste, radically transformed the whole: the central body, completed in 1755, has 25 spans on three levels, surmounted by a campanile. The "U" wings, extended in 1778, frame a garden descending towards the Meuse. The French Revolution partially damaged the north wing, rebuilt later in 1851. Under the industrial era, the Bacot family, owner from 1820, modernized the factory with steam machines, symbolized by a chimney visible from 1841. The site, leased to textile manufacturers like Klein in the late 19th century, ceased all activity in 1958.

Ranked a historical monument in stages (1962 for the garden floor, 1977-1980 for facades and roofs), the manufacture Le Dijonval illustrates the evolution of textile techniques, from colbertism to industrial revolution. Its architecture, combining classicism (triangular border, pilasters) and functionality (lucarns for drying sheets), reflects its central role in the sedan economy. The departmental archives of the Ardennes (funds 30J) keep documents about the Gift, Paignon and Babot families, although they are not. Today, the site, owned by the municipality, is being rehabilitated for housing, thus preserving a unique industrial heritage in the East.

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