Glasmuseum

Description

Since 1968 the Glass Museum in Rheinbach has presented itself in the Himmeroder Hof at Himmeroder Wall 6 as a collection and interpretive venue for Bohemian glasswork and contemporary glass design. The institution houses historical holdings as well as examples of modern glassworking and has a particular focus on North Bohemian hollowware.

The museum’s founding goes back to spring 1968, when North Bohemian glass finishers who had settled in Rheinbach after the Second World War joined with around 100 citizens to form the association Freunde edlen Glases e. V., and in the founding year opened a museum in the former town hall. The Hickisch Foundation provided the collection’s initial holdings. In 1980 the city of Rheinbach assumed sponsorship; between 1985 and 1999 the federal government purchased objects that remained in the museum as permanent loans. Thanks to funding from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, premises in the renovated Himmeroder Hof were occupied in 1989.

The Himmeroder Hof itself largely dates from the first half of the 18th century and was once the administrative seat of the estate of Himmerod Abbey. Today the listed courtyard complex forms a cultural and civic center, at the heart of which the Glass Museum is located. The museum rooms are multifunctional; the largest hall also serves as the council chamber of the city of Rheinbach. In a workshop visitors can watch artisans at work producing glass.

The holdings encompass Central European glass from the Baroque through Biedermeier and Historicism to Art Nouveau, with a focus on production of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The permanent exhibition includes Baroque cut glass, colored, ground and engraved Biedermeier glass, friendship cups, ceremonial goblets of the Historicist period, and 19th‑century spa and souvenir glasses, as well as Art Nouveau, Art Deco and vocational‑school glass from Steinschönau and Haida. A dedicated section explains the technique and art of Bohemian glass production and finishing. The presentation is complemented by modern studio glass showcasing experimental and artistic positions, and by a department on the development of Rheinbach glass art, which also exhibits works by instructors from the Rheinbach Glass Vocational School.