Le Clos des Arts is the wish of the Schoenenberger family, conceived by the father,
Marcel Schoenenberger and pursued by three of his sons: Olivier, Raphaël and Didier.
The Villaret estate where Clos des Arts is located was originally dedicated to sericulture.
Silkworm farming brought wealth to the canton in the 19th century. Every household owned silkworms. Houses were raised by one story to accommodate the silkworm nursery, a large, well-ventilated and heated room.
Here, the silkworm farms were located at the time in the current rooms of the museum.
The spinning mill, a very graceful building, punctuated by wide arched openings (breakfast room) produced the silk used by the Lyon silk manufacturers.
The house of the master of the estate, also known as the "Huguenot house", dates from the early 18th century.
In 1854, a terrible disease decimated the Magnans and production collapsed.
Louis Pasteur came to settle in Alès and developed a selection process that eliminated contaminated batches.
From 1870 onwards, yields increased again, but competition from Oriental silks and later the appearance of rayon put an end to the Cévennes silk industry.
The estate was bought in 1986 by the Schoenenberger family, a family of artists, who, coming from Alsace, discovered life in the Cévennes under its mild climate.
After undertaking the renovation of the buildings to improve their living spaces,
The museum was created to house the family's works, and then the family undertook the construction of a hotel in the vast abandoned buildings.
After a few years of work, the Clos des Arts hotel opened in 2003 with 13 rooms.
In 2011, two new superior double rooms were added.
2013 was the year the restaurant was built, and it opened its doors in the spring of 2014.
