Manufacture des Gobelins

About

The National Furniture Administration and the National Tapestry and Carpet Manufactories have brought together at the Gobelins site four historic institutions that date back to the 17th century: The National Furniture Collection, the Gobelins Tapestry Manufactory, The Beauvais Tapestry Manufactory (some of the workshops are also located in Beauvais), and La Savonnerie Carpet Manufactory.The exhibition space known as "La Galerie des Gobelins" welcomes temporary exhibitions. GOBELINS TAPESTRY MANUFACTORY History Since 1662, when Louis XIV’s finance minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert decided to bring together all of the Parisian weaving and tapestry workshops as well as those set up in Maincy by Nicolas Fouquet in one location, the Gobelins Tapestry Manufactory has continued to play a key role in the history of tapestry. The workshop was named after a family of dyers, the Gobelins, who did business on the banks of the Bievre starting in the mid-15th century. Charles Le Brun, First Painter to Louis XIV, was the manufactory’s first director. He allowed not only painters and tapestry makers, but also goldsmiths, metal casters, engravers, and cabinetmakers to set up workshops at the Gobelins site. Under Le Brun’s supervision, the extraordinary tapestries produced at the manufactory, which were designed for the homes of French royalty and as diplomatic gifts, earned international renown that has survived for more than three centuries.