Gobelin

Gobelin refers to the Gobelins Manufactory, a historic tapestry workshop in Paris, and to the tapestries produced there. The name derives from the Gobelin family, Flemish dyers who established a dye house in Paris in the 17th century. In 1662, under royal sponsorship, Louis XIV and his minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert, with design oversight by Charles Le Brun, founded the Manufacture royale des Gobelins to supply royal palaces with grand tapestry cycles. The workshop took its name from the nearby Gobelin dye works and grew into one of Europe’s leading centers of tapestry production.

The Gobelins workshop specialized in large-scale weavings that combined wool, silk and sometimes precious metals. Designs were created by prominent artists and translated into cartoons that the weavers executed on looms, producing tapestries intended for state rooms and chapels in Versailles and other residences. Over time, the Gobelins became a symbol of French decorative arts and a benchmark for quality in tapestry weaving.

Today, the term Gobelin also remains associated with the tapestry tradition and with the district of Paris where the manufactory is located. The Gobelins area has influenced other cultural institutions, including Gobelins, l'école de l'image, a well-known Parisian school of visual arts and animation housed in the same general area. The Gobelins workshop continues to be recognized for its historical role in the development and preservation of tapestry craftsmanship.