Designed by landscape architect Bas Smets, the 4-hectare landscaped park features 500 new trees and a large pond.
Once the workshops of the Compagnie du PLM
The Ateliers SNCF d'Arles occupy an important place in the history of the French railroads. An ancient site, dating back to the early years of rail development in France, the Ateliers SNCF Arles is an important site, illustrating the installations of one of the most emblematic railway companies, the Paris Lyon-Méditerranée. It offers a fascinating testimony to the constitution of this company, as each merger of previous companies has left its mark on the development of the eleven hectares devoted to it. The original buildings, as they stood in 1856, included :
- A machine shop (manufacture, repair),
- A carriage workshop,
- A wagon workshop,
- A machine depot.
One of the largest buildings in the former Ateliers, the Grande Halle once housed the boiler works. This activity required powerful handling equipment, such as the lifting of locomotive boilers, which explains the volume of the building and its overhead cranes. The building's current location has been in use since the middle of the century. An initial building housed the forges, and from the 1860s-70s was used as a boiler works and tenders workshop (western part of the present building). Rotundas, used to maneuver the machines, stood to the east, alongside the railroad tracks. The external restoration of the Grande Halle was carried out and financed by the PACA region. The architects in charge of the project were Henri Rivière and Alain Moatti. The inauguration was attended by a large public on October 5, 2007. They will soon house the LUMA Foundation and Franck Ghery's architectural project, a major complex dedicated to images and contemporary creation.
The Ateliers SNCF d'Arles occupy an important place in the history of the French railroads. An ancient site, dating back to the early years of rail development in France, the Ateliers SNCF Arles is an important site, illustrating the installations of one of the most emblematic railway companies, the Paris Lyon-Méditerranée. It offers a fascinating testimony to the constitution of this company, as each merger of previous companies has left its mark on the development of the eleven hectares devoted to it. The original buildings, as they stood in 1856, included :
- A machine shop (manufacture, repair),
- A carriage workshop,
- A wagon workshop,
- A machine depot.
One of the largest buildings in the former Ateliers, the Grande Halle once housed the boiler works. This activity required powerful handling equipment, such as the lifting of locomotive boilers, which explains the volume of the building and its overhead cranes. The building's current location has been in use since the middle of the century. An initial building housed the forges, and from the 1860s-70s was used as a boiler works and tenders workshop (western part of the present building). Rotundas, used to maneuver the machines, stood to the east, alongside the railroad tracks. The external restoration of the Grande Halle was carried out and financed by the PACA region. The architects in charge of the project were Henri Rivière and Alain Moatti. The inauguration was attended by a large public on October 5, 2007. They will soon house the LUMA Foundation and Franck Ghery's architectural project, a major complex dedicated to images and contemporary creation.