Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The departmental salt museum is housed in one of the two former fortified gates of Marsal, known as "Porte de France", a vestige of the fortifications designed by Vauban. This site, owned by the Conseil départemental de la Moselle, is part of the Moselle Passion network and benefits from the label Musée de France. It highlights the historical exploitation of salt in the region, a resource formerly known as "white gold", whose production reached 20,000 tons per year as early as the Iron Age.

Marsal, located in the heart of Saulnois, owes its wealth to its salt springs, exploited for millennia. From the 13th century, the fortified city attracted the lusts of the Dukes of Lorraine, the Bishops of Metz and the kings of France. The museum presents archaeological remains, such as excavations of the brickwork of the Seille, as well as objects bearing witness to daily life and salt production techniques throughout the ages.

The museum's modern museum incorporates a 3D restitution of the citadel to the Vauban era, highlighting its strategic role. Among his treasures are a reliquary and an opening virgin of the 14th century, as well as an original collection of saloons. These elements illustrate the complex relationship between man and salt, a major economic and symbolic resource in local history.

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