Soufflenheim

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Soufflenheim
Soufflenheim coat of arms
Soufflenheim (France)
Soufflenheim
region Grand Est
Department Bas-Rhin
Arrondissement Haguenau-Wissembourg
Canton Bischwiller
Community association Pays Rhénan
Coordinates 48 ° 50 ′  N , 7 ° 58 ′  E Coordinates: 48 ° 50 ′  N , 7 ° 58 ′  E
height 116-138 m
surface 13.24 km 2
Residents 4,889 (January 1, 2017)
Population density 369 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code 67620
INSEE code
Website http://www.mairie-soufflenheim.fr/

Soufflenheim town hall

Soufflenheim (German Sufflenheim ; formerly also Suffelheim and Suffelsheim ) is a French commune with 4889 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017) in the Bas-Rhin department in the Grand Est region (until 2015 Alsace ). It is known for its pottery and is therefore also called Cité des Potiers .

geography

Soufflenheim is located in the midst of a hilly forest, field and meadow landscape in the Rheinaue approx. 15 km east of Haguenau , 30 km northeast of Strasbourg and 35 km southwest of Karlsruhe . The Rhine runs 5 km to the east, and the Fôret de Haguenau extends directly to the west and north of the municipality ; this borders the Hanauerland and the North Vosges Nature Park, which together with the Palatinate Forest forms the cross-border biosphere reserve Palatinate Forest-Vosges du Nord .

The Alsace Wine Route begins at Marlenheim south of Strasbourg .

history

Coat of arms of the potters' guild (on the outside wall of a building)

The pottery in the forest areas of what is now northern Alsace has been known since the Bronze Age , according to finds . The prerequisite for the development of this craft were the several meters thick layers of clay beneath the sandy soil of the area.

Whether and to what extent the Gauls and Romans used the clay pits has not been proven in terms of the source. Ancient pottery has been found in the area, but no settlement is documented.

Michaelskirche (1825)

In the 9th century there is evidence of a church on the Kirchberg built by Irish monks and consecrated to Saint Michael . There is no continuous connection to today's Michaelskirche. It is also unclear whether the plain below the hill was already built on.

Soufflenheim's history of the Middle Ages and the early modern period coincides with that of Haguenau and its forest . The place is first mentioned in a document in 1147. At that time, Frederick I Barbarossa granted the local potters the right to exploit the clay pits within the imperial hunting ground. In this context, various stories - presumably legends - have come down to us, such as the miraculous rescue of the emperor by a potter from an angry boar and donations of nativity scenes made of clay to the emperor and his entourage.

In the late modern period, pottery experienced a decline. While 30 communities in the region still lived from this craft in the 19th century, today there are only two - namely next to Soufflenheim only Betschdorf . In 1837 there were 55 pottery factories in Soufflenheim, employing around 600 people; as of 2006 there are only a third of them.

One of the reasons is viticulture and tourism in Alsace, which have overtaken pottery as the main industries and are concentrated in the south of the region. Furthermore, the recreational value of the community is impaired by the high traffic frequency on the thoroughfare and the inadequate infrastructure, in particular the lack of traffic-calmed promenade areas, the small number of accommodations, restaurants and shops as well as informative documentation about the historical sights on site.

Population development

year 1962 1968 1975 1982 1990 1999 2010 2017
Residents 3868 4027 4281 4462 4269 4400 4918 4889
Sources: Cassini and INSEE

Attractions

Half-timbered house in the Grand 'Rue from 1775 with proof of residence "Johanes Stiefel Meyer - Maria Anna Stiefel-Meyerin"
  • The parish church of St. Michel, which is not a direct successor to the early medieval St. Michael's Chapel, dates from 1825. The ceiling frescoes of the hall building with neo-Romanesque elements and a square tower were destroyed in bombing on February 8, 1945. Some wooden sculptures have been preserved. a. a St. Joseph, on whose base the coats of arms of the local guilds are depicted, u. a. the potter's coat of arms with three jugs arranged in a triangle, which can be found on some of the outer walls in the city. Léon Elchinger, the father of the bishop of Strasbourg of the same name, designed a ceramic way of the cross on the left side wall.
  • Some restored half-timbered houses from the 18th century blend into the heterogeneous structure of the town.
  • The main attraction are the potteries along the Grand 'Rue and in some side streets, which are often approached as part of group tours, but can also be visited individually.

The pottery trade today

Typical Soufflenheimer Tier ceramic decor (on the outside wall of a building)

The approx. 20 pottery companies still active on site manufacture decorative and utility dishes. Gugelhupf -, Baeckeoffe - and other casserole forms are typical of the country , and there are also vases, jugs, bowls, wine coolers and complete services on offer.

The traditional color of Soufflenheimer ceramics was rust brown, the color of the clay, with a white daisy decor . Today, with a view to the diversified tourist taste, goods in blue, green, beige and red are also produced in a wide variety of decors, either abstractly with geometric patterns or figuratively with vines, plants and flowers as well as animals (especially stork, duck, chicken or fish) .

Such decors are produced today in numerous places in Alsace, partly as factory goods; The fact that a company belongs to the Confrérie des Artisans Potiers de Soufflenheim guarantees that the goods actually come from the municipality. This affiliation does not say anything about the design and size of the company (single craftsman, family workshop or medium-sized company with employees). Only 8 of the Soufflenheim companies belong to the Confrérie, but even among the non-organized potters there are those who only sell their own locally produced goods. Some see themselves as artists and sign their goods by name.

The shape is made on the turntable and usually refined two days later and given the decors. Firing takes about 14 hours at 1000 ° C.

language

In addition to French as the official language, Alsatian German is still spoken regularly in Soufflenheim and is also cultivated culturally (theater, cabaret).

Sports

6. Tee of the championship course

The Rheinaue with its villages near Soufflenheim is very popular with cyclists. A stage of the Rhine Cycle Route passes here.

On the outskirts of the community, golfers will find an 18-hole championship course and a 9-hole course with spacious apartment complexes, restaurants, a practice area with a driving range and a 6-hole short course . The in a parkland designed course with 18 lakes designed in 1994 Bernhard Langer .

Personalities

Twin cities

literature

  • Le Patrimoine des Communes du Bas-Rhin . Flohic Editions, Volume 1, Charenton-le-Pont 1999, ISBN 2-84234-055-8 , pp. 174-176.
  • Soufflenheim - Terre de Potiers Mémoire de vies, ed. from Soufflenheim Tourism Association 2006
  • Emile Decker, Olivier Haegel, Jean-Pierre Legendre, Jean Maire (Collectif): La Céramique de Soufflenheim, 150 ans de production en Alsace 1800–1950. Lieux Dits 2003, ISBN 2-914528-05-1 .

Web links

Commons : Soufflenheim  - collection of images, videos and audio files