Meisenthal Glassworks
Meiesenthal is an Historic Glassmaking Village where Emile Galle studied and worked.
The Meisenthal Glassworks was founded in 1704 and is a historical site in the region of Lorraine.
It was a major part of the birth of the Art Nouveau Movement in Glass with the works of art in glass produced by Emile Galle between 1867 and 1894.
Sadly the Glassworks of Meisenthal closed its doors in 1969.
The factory faced an uncertain future despite the expert knowledge retained by its workers.
The site rapidly began to look abandoned .
This was a similar fate to the factories of other Glassworks of the region.Already the factory of Montbronn had closed in 1957,
Cristallerie Lorraine de Lemberg in 1997,Cristallerie de Harttzviller in 2004 anhen the optical glassmakers Goetzenbruck in 2005.
Now though the larger Glass Makers are beginning to fight back with Lalique and Cristalleries de St Louis producing original designs for the worldwide market.
In 1978 an exhibition was held in Meisenthal with the copoperation of a number of Historians and experts in Glass together with the friends of the Museum of Glass.
A Centre for Research into glassmaking was founded with the co-operation 0f the Townsfolk of Meisenthal and the seven villages nearby in the glassmaking area.
The Centre CIAV International Centre of Art Glass of Meisenthal) was founded in the old Glassworks of the Glassworks of Meisenthal.
Apart from displays of Glassmaking techniques, there is a historical research department and of the foremost glassware produced at Meisenthal.
There is of course a large display of Art Nouveau Glass.
The C.I.A.V. has an interesting website with information and lots of interesting videos.
It is in French and well displayed and worth visiting for any Glass Collector.
The website is at http://www.ciav-meisenthal.fr/site.html
The website does require you to have FLASH installed and its a very glitzy interactive website with quite a lot more information than it would appear on the surface.
The videos are very interesting but some are aimed at the French market and require payment by Telecharger (a sort of payment by phone popular in France)
There were details of a Brocante (a kind of fleamarket come antiques Fair) in the streets of Meisenthal (this was in July 2008.)
Brocantes are excellent sources of original French Art Nouveau and Art Deco glassware. A Magazine call Aladdin in France lists the more regular Brocantes to visit. Get there early for bargains !
I hope this will be an annual event as it looks well worth visiting.
It would certainly be necessary to visit the tourism links before visiting to ascertain opening hours and local resources like antique markets.
There were very interesting Links -
http://www.cc-verre-cristal.fr/
http://www.ot-paysdebitche.com
http://www.parc-vosges-nord.fr/
email address : mailto:ciav@wanadoo.fr
Tourism Links :
http://www.moselle-tourisme.com
http://www.tourisme-lorraine.fr/
