Site

In the remotest times of the Old Neolithic Era, built during the first migration are wares of the Ribboned Ceramics Civilization from Central Europe. With thousand-year old V before B.C., the highly thatched Roofwigs of the large Dannbian Farms of "les Octrois" and Radfeld" are already filling the horizon. The archeological extractions of these Ribboned sites confirm a continuous human occupation from the prehistoric period to Carolingienne agglomeration which developed in the Dannbian Killocks of "les Octrois", however, the origins of Ensisheim still remain rather vague. In a mention in 768, the village is mentioned as Enghisehaim.

During the 2nd half of the XIII th Century, Rodolphe de Habsbourg, who reached Imperial Dignity, builds the powerful Castle of Koenigsbourg. This fortress probably involved the displacement of the primitive village. In 1431, Emperor Sigismond, establishes in Ensisheim, the seat of Austria Regency and makes the city the capital of his possessions in High Alsace, Country of Bade and North of Switzerland..

The 7th of November 1492, a 250 pound meteorite falls into a filed close to the city - Sebastien Brand (1458-1521) author of "La nerf des fous" takes this opportunity to exert his influence on Maximilien of Austria by writing "Loose Leaves Concerning the Fall of the Meteorite" which leads the king to lead in a war against France. The administrative and legal functions of the city conferred her to the prosperity which reached its peak between the end if the XVI th and the beginning of the XVII th centuries. Ensisheim, was mostly a rural community with no more than 200 noble families. From 1585 to 1634, the city owned a monetary workshop which became the most significant in Alsace after Strasbourg. Nevertheless, as far as the devastating shadow of the
"Thirty Year War" (1618-1648) grows, Imperial Administration leave
Ensisheim, in 1630. During this dreadful period which falls on Alsace,
Ensisheim, will be pillaged 7 times between 1631 and 1638. The tragic
consequence of this war would cause the ruin and the decline of the city.

In 1648 after the Treaty of Wesphalie, the Habsbourg possessions are
transferred to the French Crown which runs them by creating a Royal
Chamber, then in 1662, the Provincial Council. By that time, Ensisheim was
known again as the French province of Alsace, even though this function will be short. When the imperial troops returned in 1674, the Provincial Council retire in Brisach. The city will be defiantly taken again the following year by Marshall Turenne and a castle will be raised on the grounds in 1682. The departure of the Sovereign Council resulted in the erase of Ensisheim. Now considered as a simple chief town of baillage until the revolution. At the end of the Empire, the city will once again be occupied between 1814 and 1820 by the Cossacks and the Austrians. At the beginning of the XX th century, the development of the extraction of potash leads to a new rise for the city of Ensisheim, which will have to still undergo much devastation during world War II. Nowadays, Ensisheim, became a rather significant demographic and economic center.
 

Through the preservation of documents, tools and miscellaneous items, in this large room you will discover a great page from history, mining of Ensisheim flourished during the twentieth century.
 
The three wells drilled from 1912, allowed the difficult operating deep in the potash depositing in Alsace by more than 1000 meters deep and 50 ° C.
 
In these beautiful and moving collections, the lamp miners help us to
interpret the evolution of the 2 mining techniques and illustrates the life of courageous men who put them into practice.