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Origin and history

The Etueffont forge museum is a former blacksmith's workshop located in the village of Etueffont, in the Territory of Belfort. Built in the middle of the 18th century, this forge was operated by the Petitjean family from 1843, through four generations of blacksmiths. The workshop, modest in its architecture, was enriched with 19th century extensions to meet the growing needs of craft production. Its main activity, centred on the manufacture of tools and horse-drawn irons, gradually declined in the twentieth century, despite attempts to modernize such as the production of axes in the 1930s.

In 1977, César Petitjean, the last representative of the dynasty, permanently ceased his occasional activity. The forge was sold to the town hall of Etueffont in 1980 with its original tools. Thanks to the commitment of 15 volunteers, the site was transformed into a museum and inaugurated on 13 June 1981. His ethnological interest, including the intact preservation of machines and tools, motivated his registration in the Historical Monuments in 1993. Today, the forge-museum offers a rare testimony of pre-industrial craft techniques and rural life in Franche-Comté.

The museum, managed by an association created in 1978, preserves the workshop in the state where Caesar Petitjean left. Although the architecture of the building is simple, it is the richness of its content — ironwork, bellows, anvils and tools — that makes it a remarkable place. The forge-museum also holds the label Musée de France, stressing its heritage and educational importance for the transmission of traditional know-how.

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