Cement factory Lafarge and Cité Blanche

Description

The birthplace of the world leader in cement, the Viviers-le Teil factory and its white city represent the organization and architecture of the workers' cities in the 19th century.
Threatened with destruction, the classification saved the workers' city in 1995.

The area around Viviers, birthplace of the Society of Lime and Cement Lafarge, is a local and a national industrial place of memory. The old limekilns and the both worker's housing estates have been protected from a demoloition and are classified as historical monuments since 1995. The reason for it is the well-preserved architecture of the buildings and their representativeness for the industry of lime and cement and the organisation of the worker's housing estates.

The company's social policy has been honored with the gold medal for the category social economy on the world exhibitions of 1889 and 1900. The worker's housing estates' architecture, built in 1880 and 1913, show, how much value has been attached to the improvement of the living conditions.

Also the production engeneering's history has to be considered. The continuity of the lime's, later on also the ciment's, mining and production in the area of Viviers is remarkable from the 18th century until today.

The architecture of cement is since the 19th century a heritage of the region Rhône-Alpes. The cement's production and its transformation are important pillars of the area's identity. With the continuity of skills and know-hows they are essential for the maintainance and the restauration of those buildings.