Menier Chocolate Factory
The Menier chocolate factory is a former factory of the Menier family of chocolate makers in the French community of Noisiel . The old chocolate factory consists of three buildings that are listed as historical monuments. The three main buildings bear witness to the golden age of industrial architecture in the 19th century.
history
In 1825, the founder of the Menier industrial dynasty, Jean-Antoine Brutus Menier, decided to move his pharmaceutical factory from the Marais district of Paris to the banks of the Marne . In Noisiel, the site of the old mill was ideal. In 1836 he was the first to produce chocolate as a bar. In 1867, his son Emile Justin Menier decided to use the factory exclusively for the production of chocolate. The workforce increased from 50 employees in 1856 to 325 in 1867, at the end of the 19th century almost 2000 people were employed. The reorganization of production in the factory required new buildings along the Marne. As a result, the old village disappeared and the complex achieved its present form between 1860 and 1874.
The Menier chocolate company worked until 1993. Today, the company premises are home to a museum and the French main office of the Nestlé food company , to which the company is now part. By the French government, the factory was classified as a historic industrial monument and it has been on the UNESCO the list World Heritage added.
description
Le Moulin Saulnier
Le Moulin Saulnier was designed by the architect Jules Saulnier between 1865 and 1872. It is considered to be the first frame construction in the industry. The structure rests on four bridge piers standing in the Marne and consists of steel - truss - girders , which in turn support the two rows of inner columns and the truss outer walls. The outer walls are given their characteristic appearance by means of diagonal struts that serve as reinforcement . The fields are lined with colored hollow bricks. The floor slabs consist of steel support grids. The building housed the workshops for grinding the cocoa beans. It was classified as a Historic Monument in 1992.
Eiffel Hall
The Eiffel Hall , a steel structure by engineer Jules Logre , was built between 1882 and 1884. It housed the machines that ensured the necessary storage temperature of 4 ° C for the chocolate in the 4,800 square meter cellar. It got its name because of the striking inclusion of metal elements in its visual design, which connected its viewers with the Eiffel Tower . It has been on the cultural heritage list since 1986.
The Cathedral
The third monument building is the so-called cathedral , built between 1906 and 1908 using the post-and-beam technique by the architect Charles Léon Stephen Sauvestre , who also designed the Eiffel Tower built by Gustave Eiffel . Here sugar and cocoa were mixed for the chocolate. With the so-called patios (terraces) on the other bank of the Marne, the cathedral connects a conveyor bridge with the then record range of 44.50 meters. Both buildings were entered in the cultural heritage inventory in 1986.
additional
There are also other interesting buildings on the 14 hectare site: the sheltered roasting workshop for sorting the beans, built by Jules Saulnier between 1864 and 1866, expanded by Louis Logre in 1923, as well as the Jules patios mentioned between 1864 and 1867 connected to the conveyor bridge Saulnier with the atelier for the design of the packaging. In the building opposite Louis Logre's "Cathedral" from 1907 to 1913, almost 800 workers were able to pack the chocolate.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from September 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ UNESCO cultural heritage
- ^ Müller, Vogel: dtv-Atlas Baukunst, Volume 2, 10, edition June 1997, p. 513
Web links
Coordinates: 48 ° 51 ′ 29 " N , 2 ° 37 ′ 18.7" E