Meisenthal - Sacred fire and magic breath in the Vosges

Meisenthal, in the heart of the Northern Vosges, was built around its glassworks. From 1704 to 1969, tens of millions of utility glass pieces were produced there. Thanks to Émile Gallet, who worked there between 1867 and 1894, the site can even boast of being the cradle of Art Nouveau glass.

At the end of 1969, the ovens went out, leaving an impressive industrial wasteland in the heart of the small town. But thanks to the stubbornness of a few enthusiasts to want to preserve, enhance and modernize the know-how of the glassmakers, the ovens are working again, more modestly of course, but giving a second wind to the site.

The Center international d'art verrier is a veritable conservatory of the know-how of the ancients.
Since 1992, glassmakers have been working there again. They perpetuate traditional techniques, collect glass molds, reinterpret forms, collaborate with contemporary artists and designers.

Art students come here to complete their training. The industrial heritage has thus been enriched with a beautiful contemporary touch.

From the top of a gallery, visitors can observe the glass artisans during the glass blowing, learn the whole process of creation. An incredible fascination emerges from the molten glass to take shape under the magic breath of the glassmakers.

No Christmas tree without a few precious blown glass balls. Even if plastic has taken an important place in decoration.
The story of Christmas balls would have started with a great drought. According to legend, in 1858 the apple trees in the Northern Vosges were not bearing fruit, depriving the Christmas tree of its traditional finery.

A glass blower from Goetzenbruck would then have blown a few glass balls. The glassworks produced them until 1964 and the arrival of plastic Christmas decorations. It was, moreover, glassmakers from Goetzenbruck who passed on all their know-how and the secrets of blowing these Christmas balls to young glassmakers from the Meisenthal International Center for Glass Art.

Since 1999, the CIAV has invited designers every year to imagine a contemporary version in addition to the reissued traditional line. Silex, Mix, Sylvestre, Vroum, Kilo, Ovni, Tilt… The different contemporary models of Christmas baubles have names as surprising as the shapes they display. And the balls are only rarely round! A real treat for collectors!

This year, it was Nathalie Nierengarten, granddaughter of a glassmaker, and originally from Meisenthal, who imagined “Arti, a heart to take” inspired by an… artichoke! “Remove the voluptuous artichoke from its steaming bath, then strip it, leaf by leaf. But what remains once the armor has been removed, the shell pierced? There remains the essential, the treasure of our secret gardens… A heart to take, light and valiant.

The Meisenthal glass site is also the Halle Verrière which hosts concerts and shows. As for the Glass Museum, it retraces all the stages in the manufacture of crystal and glass: techniques (blowing, molding, pressing), composition, tools, firing, finishing by cutting.

An exhibition presents the first works of Émile Gallet in the Art Nouveau style...

A spectator tries his hand at blowing a ball