Manufacture des Gobelins

On the Left Bank, this royal tapestry manufactory has produced luxurious woven hangings for the French state since the 17th century, when it was reorganised under Louis XIV and his minister Colbert. Weavers still work here using traditional low-warp and high-warp looms, and the gallery displays historic and contemporary tapestries. Guided tours reveal the painstaking craft by which cartoons are translated thread by thread into monumental images. The complex remains a living centre of French decorative art.