Soufflenheim

Soufflenheim
Commune
Half-timbered houses and vineyards in Soufflenheim
Soufflenheim
Location within Grand Est region  Soufflenheim
Coordinates: 48°50′N 7°58′E / 48.83°N 7.96°E / 48.83; 7.96Coordinates: 48°50′N 7°58′E / 48.83°N 7.96°E / 48.83; 7.96
Country	France
Region	Grand Est
Department	Bas-Rhin
Arrondissement	Haguenau-Wissembourg
Canton	Bischwiller
Government
• Mayor (2001–present)	Camille Scheydecker
Area1	13.24 km2 (5.11 sq mi)
Population (2012)2	4,913
• Density	370/km2 (960/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
INSEE/Postal code	67472 /67620
Elevation	116–138 m (381–453 ft) (avg. 125 m or 410 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Soufflenheim (German: Sufflenheim), is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It is known for its pottery, being known as the Cité des Potiers

The forested area of Northern Grand Est has been used as a pottery since the Bronze Age. This area provided a natural source of the needed clay. Whether or not, and to what extent the Gauls and Romans used the area's clay, is not known. There was, however, much ancient pottery found in the area, but no settlement documented.

In the 9th century, Irish monks built the St. Michael church consecrated on the Kirchberg. For today's St. Michael's Church, there is no consistent connection. It is also unclear whether the plain below the hill was already built.

Soufflenheim history of medieval and early modern period coincides with that of Haguenau the Forest of Hagenau. In 1147, the city first documented. At the time, Frederick I Barbarossa granted the local potters exploitation rights to the Clay Pit within the imperial hunting ground. In this context, different stories - allegedly legends - survived, as the miraculous rescue of the emperor by a potter before a rampaging boar, as well as donations from nativity figurines from clay to the emperor and his entourage .

In the late modern era the craft of pottery has declined. During the 19th Century still 30 municipalities in the region had potteries, there are now only two - Soufflenheim & Betschdorf. In 1837, Soufflenheim still had 55 pottery businesses, which employed about 600 people. In 2006, there was only one third of that.