The Canson & Montgolfier paper mills' house

Today we're heading to the Canson and Montgolfier paper mills' house.

To reach the Canson Museum from Annonay, you can arrive by car or via the Via Fluvia by bicycle or on foot. The museum is situated in a green and peaceful setting with the Deûme River flowing below.

In front of the museum, a centuries-old tree stands guard, while a charming house with a glass roof catches my eye. I later learn that it's one of the paper mill's three chapels. In spring and summer alike, it's the perfect setting to relax before or after your visit.

The start of the visit

Once I had my ticket, I settled into a video room to watch a ten-minute film about the history of the Montgolfier and Canson paper mill . I learned why it was located in Vidalon, just a stone's throw from Annonay, but I'll let you discover that for yourselves…

Through historical documents, objects and explanatory panels, the rich collection of the Canson museum reveals to me the whole history of the Montgolfier family.

Angel Salazar

Follow the guide!

The guided tour has begun, and I hurry to join the guide who is waiting for us one floor below. To provide some historical context, she briefly recounts the story of the Montgolfier brothers and Marc Seguin, as well as their inventions.

We head towards the machine room. Before explaining the role of each machine, the guide shows us a model explaining each stage of papermaking : rag collection, sorting, the rotting chamber, the unrolling, the pulping, the vat, the coating, the lifting, the drying, the gelatinizing and more sorting!

Behind each step, countless hands are hard at work. It's truly impressive when you consider that the factory employed hundreds of workers!

One by one, the guide demonstrates the machines before our eyes and explains how they work. They are in very good condition, and some are quite noisy! This won't surprise you, but in those days, papermakers often ended up deaf.

Our guide reveals that even today, many shirt buttons are still found in the soil of Vidalon or Boulieu-lès-Annonay. There's a good reason for this : back then, the women sorting the rags didn't bother with proper disposal and simply threw the buttons directly into nature!

A little demo?

Lucia Ortega

The moment I was most looking forward to: the papermaking demonstration!

The guide dips her sieve into the water, lifts it out, and makes a few side-to-side movements. These gestures are crucial for interlacing the paper fibers . Once dry, a watermark appears when held up to the light. This is, in a way, the Montgolfier family logo. A crown is visible on it. Indeed, the paper mill had been recognized as a royal manufactory : a prestigious honor for the time, which ensured the company's renown throughout the kingdom!

A paternalistic stationery

Like many factories at the time, the Montgolfier factory was designed as a living space . Three chapels, one of which is still present in the basement, served as a place of prayer for the workers.

With the machines running 24/24, everything was organized for self-sufficiency ! The advantage of this system, for the managers, was that it guaranteed a workforce for generations. However, the workers knew how to make themselves heard: in the engine room, there was a section of wall with levers, some of which controlled the electricity supply to the owners' houses. If the workers had demands, they simply had to make them known by cutting off the power!