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{{Short description|Historic tapestry factory in Paris, France}}
[[File:Manufacture des Gobelins.jpg|thumb|upright=2|300px|The Gobelins Manufactory in 2009]]

The '''Gobelins Manufactory''' ({{Langx|fr|Manufacture des Gobelins}}) is a historic [[tapestry]] factory in Paris, France. It is located at 42 avenue des Gobelins, near [[Les Gobelins (Paris Métro)|Les Gobelins]] [[Paris Métro|métro]] station in the [[13th arrondissement of Paris]]. It was originally  established on the site as a medieval dyeing business by the family [[Gobelin]].
[[File:La Bataille de Zama Jules Romain 1688 1690.jpg|thumb|''[[Battle of Zama]]'' tapestry after [[Giulio Romano (painter)|Jules Romain]], manufactured for [[Louis XIV]] in 1688–1690 ([[Louvre Museum]])]]

==Overview==
It is best known as a royal factory supplying the court of the French monarchs since [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]], and it is now run by the ''General Administration of the National Furniture and National Manufactures of Carpets and Tapestries'' (French: ''Administration générale du Mobilier national et des Manufactures nationales de tapis et tapisseries'') of the French [[Minister of Culture (France)|Ministry of Culture]]. The factory is open for guided tours several afternoons per week by appointment, as well as for casual visits every day except Mondays and some specific holidays. The [[Galerie des Gobelins]] is dedicated to temporary exhibitions of tapestries from the French manufactures and furnitures from the [[Mobilier National]], built in the gardens by [[Auguste Perret]] in 1937.
Along with [[Ōshima-tsumugi]] from Japan, and [[Persian carpets]], Gobelin Tapestry are considered to be one of the worlds greatest textiles.<ref>{{Cite web |title=OOSE SHOTEN - Oshima Tsumugi |url=https://www.kagoshima-kimono.com/ |website=kagoshima-kimono.com}}</ref>

==History==
The [[Gobelin]]s were a family of [[dye]]rs who, in the middle of the 15th century, established themselves in the {{Interlanguage link multi|Faubourg Saint-Marcel|fr|3=Faubourg Saint-Marcel (quartier de Paris)}}, [[Paris]], on the banks of the [[Bièvre (river)|Bièvre]].<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911 |wstitle=Gobelin |volume=12 |page=165 |inline=1}}</ref>

===Comans-La Planche workshop===
In 1602, [[Henry IV of France]] rented factory space from the Gobelins for his [[Flanders|Flemish]] tapestry makers, Marc de Comans and François de la Planche, on the current location of the Gobelins Manufactory adjoining the Bièvre river. In 1629, their sons Charles de Comans and Raphaël de la Planche took over their fathers' tapestry workshops, and in 1633, Charles was the head of the Gobelins manufactory.<ref>R.M. Van Den Haute, ''Les promoteurs belges de la Manufacture des Gobelins'', ''Le Patriote illustré'', {{p.|1088}}.</ref> Their partnership ended around 1650, and the workshops were split into two. Tapestries from this early, Flemish period are sometimes called ''pre-gobelins''.

===Colbert and Le Brun ===
[[File:Apse of the chapel of the Manufacture des Gobelins.jpg|thumb|upright|Rear view in 1830 of the Gobelins Manufactory, adjoining the river [[Bièvre (river)|Bièvre]]]]
In 1662, the works in the Faubourg Saint Marcel, with the adjoining grounds, were purchased by [[Jean-Baptiste Colbert]] on behalf of [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]] and made into a general upholstery factory, in which designs both in tapestry and in all kinds of furniture were executed under the superintendence of the [[court painter]], [[Charles Le Brun]],<ref name=EB1911/> who served as director and chief designer from 1663–1690. On account of Louis XIV's financial problems, the establishment was closed in 1694, but reopened in 1697 for the manufacture of tapestry, chiefly for royal use.<ref name=EB1911/> It rivalled the [[Beauvais tapestry|Beauvais tapestry works]] until the [[French Revolution]], when work at the factory was suspended.

The factory was revived during the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Bourbon Restoration]] and, in 1826, the manufacture of carpets was added to that of tapestry. In 1871, the building was partly burned down during the [[Paris Commune]].<ref name=EB1911/>

The factory is still in operation today as a state-run institution.

== Historical site ==
Today, the manufactory consists of a set of four irregular buildings dating to the seventeenth century, plus the building on the avenue des Gobelins built by [[Jean-Camille Formigé]] in 1912 after the 1871 fire. They contain Le Brun's residence and workshops that served as foundries for most of the bronze statues in the park of Versailles, as well as looms on which tapestries are woven following seventeenth century techniques.

The Gobelins still produces some limited amount of tapestries for the decoration of French governmental institutions, with contemporary subjects.

The museum's gallery reopened to the public on May 12, 2007. Important exhibitions are organized regularly.

==Fulham connection==
A branch of the manufactory was established in [[18th-century London|London]] probably in the early 18th-century in the area that is now [[Fulham High Street]]. Around 1753 it appears to have been taken over by the priest and adventurer, [[Pierre Parisot]], but closed only a few years later.<ref>{{cite book|author=Denny, Barbara|date=1997|title= ''Fulham Past''| publisher=London: Historical Publications|page=107|isbn= 0-948667-43-5}}</ref>

== Gallery ==
<gallery perrow="3" widths="200px">
File:Death of Constantine (tapestry) - 1623-1625.jpg|''Death of Constantine'' tapestry (one in a series) after a design by [[Rubens]] woven by Filippe Maëcht and Hans Taye in the Comans-La Planche workshop, 1623–1625.
Image:Gobelins - Chancellerie (Musée Nissim de Camondo).JPG|Gobelins tapestry, circa 1680, in the [[Musée Nissim de Camondo]], Paris.
File:La sortie de l Ambassadeur Turc du Jardin des Tuileries Gobelins 1734 1737.jpg|''La sortie de l'Ambassadeur Turc du Jardin des Tuileries'' ([[Ottoman Empire]] embassy of [[Mehemet Effendi]]), Atelier Lefebvre et Mommerqué, Gobelins, 1734–1737.
Image:Louis14-H.jpg|[[Louis XIV]] visits the Gobelins with Colbert, 15 October 1667. Tapestry from the series "Histoire du roi" designed by [[Charles Le Brun]] and woven between 1667 and 1672.
Image:Gobelin Manufactory - Portrait of Louis XVI (1745-93) - Walters 8227.jpg|Portrait of Louis XVI (1745–93). Tapestry produced by Gobelins Manufactory.
File:Panthéon Tapisserie de la manufacture des Gobelins.JPG|Tapestry in the [[Panthéon, Paris]].
Image:Loom haute lisse DSC08774.jpg|A "high-warp" (''haute lisse'') loom.
Image:Loom basse lisse DSC08828.jpg|A "low-warp" (''basse lisse'') loom, used for smaller pieces.
Image:The_tapestry_in_the_Salon_de_la_tapisserie_Hôtel_de_Besenval_Paris_(2).jpg|The 17th century Franco-Swiss ''Alliance Tapestry'' at the [[Hôtel de Besenval]]. In the foreground King [[Louis XIV]] (right) and the Swiss politician [[:de:Johann Heinrich Waser (Politiker)| Johann Heinrich Waser]]. Tapestry from the series ''Histoire du Roi''.
</gallery>

== See also ==
* [[List of museums in Paris]]
* [[Beauvais Manufactory]]
* [[Moravská Gobelínová Manufaktura]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
* [[Wolf Burchard]], The Sovereign Artist: Charles Le Brun and the Image of Louis XIV, London 2016 
* [[Lacordaire]], ''Notice historique sur les Manufactures impériales de tapisseries des Gobelins et de tapis de la Savonnerie, précédée du catalogue des tapisseries qui y sont exposées'' (Paris, 1853)
* Genspach, ''Répertoire détaillé des tapisseries exécutées aux Gobelins'', 1662–1892 (Paris, 1893)
* [[Jules Guiffrey]], ''Histoire de la tapisserie en France'' (Paris, 1878–1885).

==External links==
{{Commons category|Manufacture des Gobelins}}
* [http://www.mobiliernational.culture.gouv.fr/fr/nous-connaitre/les-manufactures/manufacture-des-gobelins Manufacture des Gobelins] (in French)
* Gobelins tapestries in the [https://collection.mobiliernational.culture.gouv.fr/ Collections of the Mobilier national] (France)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081005193900/http://www.museums-of-paris.com/musee_en.php?code=349 Museums of Paris entry]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080516100946/http://www.paris.org/Musees/Gobelins/info.html Paris.org entry]

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{{13th arrondissement of Paris}}
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[[Category:Tapestry-making operations]]
[[Category:Textile arts of France]]
[[Category:Textile industry in France]]
[[Category:Textile mills]]
[[Category:Textile museums in France]]
[[Category:Manufacturing companies based in Paris]]
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[[Category:Arts and culture in the Ancien Régime]]
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