VIDEO. The largest French tobacco factory is transformed into a “new flagship of science” in Finistère

Stopped since 2004, the Morlaix tobacco factory continues its metamorphosis in Finistère. It now houses a vast space dedicated to sciences: geology, physics… but also mechanics: the old machines have been restored. Before its opening to the public on July 2, visit here!

Passing through the heavy door of the mill room is like going back in time, somewhere between the 18th and 19th centuries.

For several months, the muffled noises of belts, cranks, pulleys or Archimedes screws have taken possession of this immense three-level room, as in the golden age of the factory, built in 1736.

For five years, two curators, Olivier Morel and Galateia Kriezi worked to restore these impressive machines.

It is here that, for more than two and a half centuries, snuff leaves were ground. At its peak, in the nineteenth century, “the Manu“, as it is called by close friends, then hired nearly 2000 people to produce cigars, cigarettes, cigarillos and snuff and was the first tobacco factory in France.

The goal is to promote all these simple physical and mechanical principles and to show that at the time, in the 19th century, we already had these elements.

Marie-Laure Brandily

Manager of the Morlaix Science Center

“The tobacco ground in these mills falls under your feet, into this Archimedes screw, a screw which allows the material to be transported to the back of the room“, explains Marie-Laure Brandily, head of the Morlaix Science Center.

A majestic support to illustrate some major technical and mechanical principles: “The goal is to promote all these simple physical and mechanical principles and to show that at the time, in the 19th century, we already had these elements, explains the manager. We still have them today, except that now we have added electronics and computers which make things a little more complex.“

It’s a bit of an apotheosis of this reappropriation of our royal imperial tobacco factory.

Jean-Paul Vermot

Mayor of Morlaix

This scenography highlights this industrial heritage by exploring the history of Manu, as well as that of tobacco.

“It’s a bit of an apotheosis of this reappropriation of our royal imperial tobacco factory.rejoices Jean-Paul Vermot, mayor of Morlaix, who sees in this new space “a flagship of science and the scientific spirit, for everyone in the region.“

This huge room is part of the Manufacture’s new Science Space. A project led by the eponymous Rennes association which is developing over nearly 3600m2 in this famous Manufacture.

Read also : The future Rennes planetarium seduces Hubert Reeves

As in the first Espace des Sciences, at the Champs Libres, in Rennes, a single vocation: to raise awareness of science and make its magic palpable.

Like the geological epic of the Armorican massif presented on the second level. “We also had a humid tropical period in Brittany, says Michel Cabaret, director of the Rennes science center. Why do we know this? Because we had some fossil limestone rocks in the Rennes region where we found traces of sharks. We have fossils presented here.“

And to find out more about the geological history of the Armorican massif, you will now have to wait until July 2, when the Espace des sciences opens to the public. All inhabitants of the Pays de Morlaix will receive two invitations to discover the new face of their “Manu“.

Read also : Morlaix. Culture revives the Tobacco Factory

After the opening in 2021 of Sew, a multicultural center combining art and essay cinema, current music and theater in 2021, with this new Science Space, the building is gradually regaining the central place it occupied in the lives of Morlais residents.