Klingenthal Sword Factory: En garde, touché!

In the early 1700’s, Louis XV decided to acquire the expertise to build a sword manufacturing facility in France to avoid having to buy them from foreign countries.  That was sound judgment especially since most of their battles were with their neighbors.  Louis XV went across the border to Germany and smuggled a number of expert craftsman from a sword factory in Germany and brought them to France.  But why did he choose to put the factory in Alsace as it is so far from the center of French government?  Because Alsatians spoke German so that permitted the craftsman to train the locals and the region had the natural resources such as wood for construction of buildings, sandstone for grinding steel, and a stream that could provide power for the factory through a series of water wheels.   The factory was constructed and a village grew up around it.  The factory was named Klingenthal which means “Valley of Swords” in German.  Klinge means sword and Thal means valley. 

The sword factory was first opened in 1731 as a state run factory.  Dozens of different models were produced at the factory with some 350,000 swords produced just of their most popular model.  It operated under a contract for the French army until 1836 when the doors were shuttered.  It was determined that the factory was too close to the German border and venerable to an invasion so it was moved 300 miles west to Châtellerault , closer to Paris.  However, the Coulaux family, who were prominent leaders in the factory, decided to buy the factory to start a private forgery business.  They diversified their product line to include body armor and hand tools for carpenters, farmers, and masons.   The factory finally closed down in 1962 after operating for more than 200 years.

The Klingenthal sword museum is filled with fine examples of the work that was done at the factory including swords, bayonets, chest armor, scythes, hand saws, sickles, metal files, etc.  Also on display are tools used by the craftsman and pictures from various parts of the factory.  There is a fire pit in the museum that they use for monthly demonstrations.  They also have several massive sandstone wheels on which the blades were sharpened and fine tools where the specialty swords were engraved. 

During the period of peak production, the factory employed 700 workers.  Much of the infrastructure needed to support the factory and house the workers is still in place today.  Walking through the village after the museum tour brought to life the sounds of metal clanging on metal, steel being grinded on sandstone wheels, and the smell of coal burning in the forger’s fire.   

Additional Information:

-          Tour takes around 1 hour through 4 floors of the building, cost is 6 euros for adults, on certain days they light up a fire and demonstrate the forgery process.   

-          Museum’s official website 

-          How swords were made