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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

Under the Old Regime, salt was a state monopoly in the countries of "Grande Gabelle", where the inhabitants had to buy an imposed quantity annually. The gabelle, a salt tax, was managed by farmers who moved the funds to royalty before recovering them from the population. Salt attices, created in the Middle Ages, served both as courts for gabelle-related offences and as warehouses for storage. These buildings played a key role in the local economy and Royal Tax Control.

The salt warehouse at Saint-Valery-sur-Somme was built in 1733-1734 on the Lejoille wharf, at the initiative of François Lebaud, to store salt transported by sea. With an exceptional capacity of 18 to 20,000 tons (about 19,000 tons), it supplied the salt attic of Picardie, Champagne and Burgundy. With its three shops 45.5 m long and 3,700 m2, it was one of the largest in the kingdom. Its roof, collapsed in 1935, was never reconstructed identically.

The French Revolution abolished the gabelle in 1790, ending the primary function of the warehouse. The building then changed ownership several times before being bought by the municipality in 1982. Ranked a historic monument in 1991, it was completely rehabilitated between 2015 and 2020. Today, it houses a 315-seat show hall, a reception area, the tourist office and a restaurant with panoramic views of the port.

Architecturally, the warehouse is distinguished by its white stone chained brick walls and sandstone bases. Although the internal bulkheads and original stairways have disappeared, the only example remaining in France is a salt warehouse of this size. Its rehabilitation has preserved this unique testimony of the economic and fiscal history of pre-revolutionary France.

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