Altmünden glassworks
The Altmünden glassworks was a glassworks in Altmünden that mainly produced white hollow glass between 1594 and 1818 under the name Fürstliche Glashütte zu Altmünden . It was created in 1594 by Landgrave Moritz von Hessen-Kassel to supply his court in Kassel with glass products. Later, crystal glass and glass for use were also produced for the middle classes.
location
The glassworks was on the eastern edge of the Reinhard Forest and the Weser on the border between the Hanoverian and Hessian state borders, which the field names contributed Schörgründe. Since water was an important resource in a glassworks, it was built on the Hüttenbach, which flows down from the heights of the Reinhardswald to the Weser. The glassworks belonged to Altmünden, but was not on Hanover, but on Hessian soil. The nearby Weser could therefore not be used to transport the glassware. The transport in the direction of Münden was carried out by car via a ferry at the level of Tanzwerder, where customs duties were due. In Hessian the transport took place over steep paths of the Reinhardswald. It was not until 1967 that the small area of the Hessian national territory on which the hut was located came to Lower Saxony through a border change agreement. The Glashüttenplatz is a protected ground monument . Its former waste dump is located on the Hüttenbach, which erodes it and exposes production residues.
history
Right from the start, the Altmünden glassworks was a fixed facility, in contrast to the mobile forest glassworks in the Weser Uplands that were still common at that time . In 1594, Landgrave Moritz von Hessen-Kassel granted master glassmaker Franz Gundelach , who came from Helsa in the Kaufunger Wald , the privilege of building the first white glass works on Hessian soil as a tenant . Until then, the production of green forest glass in forest glassworks was common. The landgrave provided the leaseholder with the Bohemian glassmaker and enamel painter Peter Hüttel, who was supposed to teach him how to make white glass. However, in 1599, Duke Heinrich Julius von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel poached him for a white glass works near Golmbach im Vogler . The annual rent to be paid to the Landgraviate of Hessen-Kassel was 120 Reichstaler for the tenant of the Altmünden glassworks . In addition, he had to provide 1000 white wine glasses and 500 white beer glasses, a row of green glasses and around 2000 slices of slugs for the court. In order to prevent overexploitation of the forest, the glass works tenant received precise instructions. He was not allowed to leave the area that was felled every year in a deserted place, but had to clean it up so that the forest could grow back. The raw material sand required for glass melting was extracted from the nearby Gahrenberg.
In 1625 the glassworks was demolished because there was not enough wood to heat the kilns. It was probably rebuilt in 1644 and demolished again for this reason in 1660. In 1680 it was rebuilt under the name Fürstliche Kristallin-Glashütte . The first tenant was Johann Reinhard Hirschenfeld from Bohemia, who carried the title of Princely Hessian Christian Master. When the glassworks burned down in 1684, the Hessian Landgrave Karl granted him an advance payment for rebuilding after a petition. Glass production ended in 1818. Only the house of the last glassworks leaseholder, built in 1785, has been preserved and has been used as a Hessian forester's house since the end of production.
Products
The glassworks mainly produced white hollow glass, such as goblets, goblets, goblets, carafes, bottles and apothecary jars. Some glasses were decorated with ornate enamel paintings . The introduction of this technique, which can be traced back to 1701, is attributed to the Bohemian enamel painter Peter Hüttel, who worked in the hut. The only surviving piece is a rod glass dated 1595 for the domina of the nearby Hilwartshausen monastery , which is now in the Kestner Museum in Hanover . It shows bohemian design and bohemian decor, such as lily of the valley motifs .
The glassworks, rebuilt in 1680 under the name Fürstliche Kristallin-Glashütte , produced clear chalk glass and crystal glass, which was refined by a grinding mill at Kassel Castle . The artfully cut glasses were coveted in the baroque court because they met the noble need for representation. Not only the Kasseler Hof was supplied with drinking vessels and glass, but also the entire Hessian region. The production of potash as a flux in glass production can be demonstrated at the Altmünden glassworks from 1680, which made the laborious production of wood ash unnecessary.
In recent excavations in Hann. Münden , glass remains from goblet glasses and pointed goblets were found in sewers and garbage pits , which were attributed to the production of the Altmünden glassworks in the 18th century. Cup glasses that have been completely preserved can be found in the city museums of Kassel and Hann. Münden.
literature
- Gerhard Almelung: The princely glassworks at Altmünden 1594-1818 , Hannoversch Münden, 2006, ISBN 3-925 451-37-4
Coordinates: 51 ° 25 '44.3 " N , 9 ° 38' 6.9" E