Station: [20] Bürgel Ceramics Museum

M: Earthenware, stoneware, engobe and the local "blue apron" pattern – if you want to delve deeper into the history of pottery in Bürgel, this is the place to be! The 18th century listed building known as the Alte Schule, the Old School, now houses the Bürgel Ceramics Museum...

F: ... that has a similarly long history. Founded in 1880, it was initially intended as a collection of samples for the local master potters. At the time, Bürgel was trying to move from individual craft businesses to a manufacturing industry that would leave utilitarian pottery behind and specialise in slip casting ceramic art. To that end, a school teaching drawing was set up along with the museum.

M: Today's permanent exhibition shows the development of the Bürgel pottery trade from the early days of the guild in the 17th century to the present. It showcases the most important Bürgel ceramicists and their work, and traces the eventful development of the local pottery trade: from the practical household items and utilitarian objects of earlier centuries, via the decorative objects of the imperial period, the beginnings of the blue-and-white pattern, and the stunning creations of the Art Nouveau artist Henry van de Velde, all the way to the master potters of the GDR period, who each found their own creative idiom alongside the blue-and-white. 

F: Since 1995, the Bürgel Ceramics Museum has awarded the “Walter Gebauer Ceramics Prize” at the annual Bürgel Pottery Market. The award recognises the superb skills and special creative flair of ceramicists working today.