“The valley of blades” is the translation of Klingenthal, an Alsatian town which owes its existence to the establishment of the largest French edged weapon factory during the first Napoleonic empire. A museum retraces all this history.
The house of the bladed weapon factory in Klingenthal is starting its 2022 season. The museum is one of the must-sees for tourists passing through this Lower Rhine town, however it is less known to locals. It tells the fascinating story of the most important production site for swords and bayonets under Napoleon I.
The first workshops were set up in 1730 at the time of Louis XV. A dozen craftsmen who are experts in the manufacture of bladed weapons are poached from Solingen in Germany to train Alsatian craftsmen in the various manufacturing techniques that have been kept secret until then.
Production increases rapidly, a village is built around the various forging, sharpening and assembly workshops. The name Klingenthal is chosen by craftsmen who have been established for a few years. There were more than 700 workers on the site at the end of the first empire in 1815.
The models are made in several thousand copies. 335,000 infantry sabers worn by the soldiers of the Napoleonic army were manufactured between 1800 and 1820. The forging of the blade, the handle, the guard, the scabbard, each saber required the intervention of a dozen different trades .
Following the first Empire, the manufacture experienced another form of activity. Military weapons are produced in Châtellerault, in Vienne. Klingenthal responds to custom orders, sabers for army officers, richly engraved hunting or table knives.
In 1836 the production site was operated by the Coulaux company. It adapts the activity of the workshops by producing blades for farmers, carpenters and woodcutters. Coulaux is building a solid reputation in the manufacture of scythes, sickles and saws. The tinkling of the power hammers in the Klingenthal workshops ceased in 1961, the company ended.
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