Saline de Montmorot

Saline de Montmorot is a salt production site spanning about five hectares, surrounded by walls three meters high and containing several industrial buildings for salt extraction. Today visitors can see one original shaft headframe, a water reservoir, and a residence that were renovated and restored in 2019.

The site began operating in 1752 with six evaporation stoves and expanded through technical improvements, including the addition of steam engines by 1891. Production continued until 1966, ending more than two centuries of salt making.

The site reflects how salt was made in eastern France, and its remaining buildings now house the departmental archives of Jura. The way the place is used today bridges its industrial past with a new purpose.

The site sits on a large walled property where you can walk around and explore the different buildings at your own pace. It is best visited during daylight hours so you can see the structures and building details clearly.

Salt extraction here relied on stacking bundles of thorns several meters high in multi-story buildings to increase brine concentration before evaporation. This method, rarely seen elsewhere, shows the ingenuity of earlier salt makers.