Gernheim glassworks
 Glassworks tower of glass Gernheim |
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| Data | |
|---|---|
| place | Petershagen - Ovenstädt |
| Art | |
| opening | November 7, 1998 |
| Website | |
| ISIL | DE-MUS-478611 |
The glass Gernheim is a location of the LWL Industrial Museum in Petershagen - Ovenstädt in North Rhine-Westphalia . The museum is located in the historic buildings of the former glassworks , which, as an early industrial factory, produced glass from 1812 to 1877 . With three glass melting furnaces, it was for a time one of the most important factories in north-west Germany . After the dilapidated facilities were taken over in 1983 by the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association and a restoration, they were opened as a museum on November 7, 1998.
history
founding
The Gernheim glassworks was built in 1812 on an open area near Ovenstädt directly on the steep banks of the Weser . The founders of the works were the merchants Johann Christoph Friedrich Schrader and Cornelius Lampe from Bremen . The founders of the hut recruited their glassmakers nationwide. The first came from the Lipper region , others followed from Bohemia , Saxony as well as from the Paderborn district and from Schwarzburg . The name given to the glassworks location was obviously based on the fact that glassmakers came from distant regions who “liked to be at home” in their new place of residence. The location on the river was chosen for reasons of transport because the raw materials as well as the finished products could be transported by ship. The fresh winds in the open bank area were beneficial for glass production. They favored the air supply for the fire to melt the glass.
Plants and buildings
From 1812 onwards, numerous factory buildings were built, which formed a small, early industrial factory site. These included the old hut built in 1812 , the glassworks tower built from bricks in 1826 , a grinding shop, a lime kiln, an inn with a shop, a wickerwork shop, a school, a packing house, the administration, the factory owner's house, rows of houses for the workers and various stables for horses and horses Materials. The workforce averaged almost 200 people. At that time, the smelter was an enormous company and initially had two melting furnaces. In 1826 the melting furnace in the glassworks tower was added as a third furnace. Forty glassblowers were employed at each furnace instead of the usual four.
The brick glassworks tower has a diameter of almost 18 meters and a height of around 20 meters. The wall thickness is 90 cm. The duct for the air supply running under the tower has a height of almost three meters and a width of approximately two meters.
Since the melting times of the glass mass could not be calculated in advance, the glassmakers had to be on call at all times. It was therefore necessary that the workers in the glass industry lived near the factory. In Gernheim, three rows of half-timbered houses with around 30 apartments were built by 1830 . The buildings were solidly built and offered in comparison to rural Kotten decent housing conditions. The apartments were housed in elongated rows of houses. Each apartment had a stable and a piece of garden land. The glassmaker families were able - at least partially - to be self-sufficient. Since the glassmakers often worked at night, the dark room in every apartment made it easier for them to sleep during the day.
Schürgang under the glassworks tower
View up to the smoke vent inside the glassworks tower
The glassworks around 1825
The glassworks around 1850 with the Weser steamer Wittekind
Products
The product range of glassware was broad. It was flat glass for windows, and green and white hollow glass produced. These included wine and beer glasses, bottles, glass flasks for chemists and medicine bottles for pharmacists. Also roof tiles made of glass, and church windows were produced. A specialty was white flashed glass . The smelter's own glass cutting shop refined the glassware by engraving, painting and grinding. At times, half of the glassware was exported to Spain and Portugal, but also overseas, especially to North and South America and India.
Decline
With the start-up crisis in 1873, the glassworks suffered an economic decline. The lack of a rail connection also resulted in a decline in competitiveness compared to competitors. In 1877 the production of glass was stopped. In 1892, glass production started again, which only lasted until 1893. Afterwards, a basket weaving workshop and a straw tube factory were active in the buildings for decades as a supplier for other glassworks. Several hut buildings fell into disrepair, burned down or were used as quarries by the population, such as the old hut . The glassworks tower remained damaged and was bought by the Gerresheimer Glashütte . Today it is one of the few remaining examples in Europe. In Germany only one other tower (in natural stone masonry) has been preserved in the former Steinkrug glassworks .
museum
In 1981, the Westphalian Industrial Museum, the predecessor of the LWL Industrial Museum, took over the site of the former Gernheim glassworks , some of which had been preserved from the 19th century. A museum was set up there. It presents former glass production, which also includes preparatory work such as making the shapes and mixing the mixture. In the glassworks tower , glass is blown for museum visitors for demonstration purposes. Furthermore, the glass grinding shop , the basket weaving shop , the factory owner's house and a workers' house can be visited. The exhibition includes around 2,000 different glass exhibits.
The museum primarily shows the living and working conditions in the glass industry in the age of industrialization . In one of the workers' houses, the everyday life of glassmaker families is presented. In particular, it is about eating habits and typical work clothes. The clothes and furniture show that the glass industry made good money in the mid-19th century.
Excavations
In 1985, 1987 and 1988 excavations took place in the area of the glassworks tower. They provided information about the structure of the system.
See also
literature
- Gerhard Henke-Bockschatz : Be brave towards the fireplace !, studies on the life of workers in the glassmaker's town of Gernheim an der Weser 1812-1893 , Dortmund, 1988
- Gerhard Schrader: Gernheim. The founding of Johann Christoph Friedrich Schrader. A contribution to Westphalian economic history in the 19th century , JCC Bruns Verlag, Minden 1951
- Thomas Parent (Hrsg.): Glashütte Gernheim: Museum Guide (= Small Series / Westphalian Industrial Museum . Volume 18 ). Dortmund 1998, ISBN 3-921980-72-0 .
Web links
Coordinates: 52 ° 24 ′ 36 ″ N , 8 ° 58 ′ 30 ″ E