Manufacture des Gobelins, tapestry weaving in the 13th since 1601

The Manufacture des Gobelins, the tapestry works on the avenue des Gobelins, began in April 1601, when Henri IV settled two Flemish weavers, Marc de Comans and François de La Planche, in a former dye works of the faubourg Saint-Marcel. The site takes its name from Jehan Gobelin, a scarlet dyer established on the Bièvre in the 15th century.

In 1622, Rubens supplied Comans with the cartoons for the History of Constantine. On 6 June 1662, Colbert bought the Hôtel des Gobelins to bring the Paris workshops together. Under Charles Le Brun, first painter to the king, it wove for the royal residences and diplomatic gifts.

The manufactory came through the Revolution and lost part of its buildings in the fire of May 1871. Attached to the Mobilier national since 1937, it weaves for public buildings after Fernand Léger, Alexander Calder, Sonia Delaunay, Joan Miró and Louise Bourgeois. Since 2025 it has belonged to the Manufactures nationales, Sèvres & Mobilier national.

In the 13th arrondissement, the enclosure, listed in 1993, still houses working looms. The gallery built from 1908 to 1913 by Jean-Camille Formigé reopened in 2007 for the manufactory’s 400th anniversary and shows the collections of the Mobilier national.