ANCIENNE FAÏENCERIE DE NIDERVILLER

The red sandstone building of the Manufacture de Niderviller was erected on the site of a former seigneurial mill in 1735 under the direction of Mathias Lesprit, master earthenware maker from Badonviller. In 1748, with the sale of the seigneury to Jean-Louis Beyerlé, director of the Strasbourg mint, the company became prosperous. Destroyed by fire around 1754, it was rebuilt and hired the best artists and workers. One of them, François-Antoine Anstett, a painter and chemist, became director of the factory, which enjoyed its heyday. The Niderviller earthenware factory later tried its hand at porcelain, but gave up in the face of competition from Limoges, turning to utilitarian earthenware in the ^19th century. Niderviller earth contains a subtle blend of mineral elements that give it interesting heat-retaining qualities. It has enabled artists and craftsmen to express themselves and create remarkable pieces. The factory has over a thousand molds for 18th-century vases and statuettes. Created by Cyfflé, Lemire and other artists, statuettes were exceptionally popular throughout Europe in the 18th century. They depicted fashionable themes: gallant and mythological scenes inspired by the works of famous painters or fashionable operas. The most remarkable of these works, such as l'Enlèvement d'Hélène, in low-fire glazed earthenware (1780), can be found in the Musée de Sarrebourg, which boasts a fine collection of early earthenware and Niderviller porcelain, as well as medieval terracottas. After it ceased production, the Ancienne faïencerie site underwent a number of alterations and restorations. In particular, it is possible to see the factory's rehabilitated bottle kilns, accessible from a small park that enhances the site. Tours can be scheduled and led by the Association de Sauvegarde du Patrimoine de Niderviller.