Herzogau glassworks

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An economically important glassworks was located in Hofmark Herzogau near Waldmünchen in the Cham district in Upper Palatinate ( Bavaria ).

history

In the past, glass production was of enormous economic importance for the area around Waldmünchen . Above all, the boom in the glass industry in the 19th century characterizes the area between Waldmünchen and Furth im Wald to this day. Several places in the Ulrichsgrüner Tal trace their origin back to the founding of glassworks. The Herzogauer Glashütte occupies an outstanding position because of its long history. As one of the oldest glassworks in the area, it was the starting point for the economic development and settlement of the region on the border with Bohemia . In addition, it is closely associated with well-known names from the history of glass. Bock and Werner are the operators, while the familiesNachtmann and Hirsch first appeared here as glassmakers .

Gebhard Ruhland, former caretaker of Waldmünchen, founded a glassworks in the upper Herzogau in 1579 on what is now the "Ochsenweide" corridor, after he had acquired the place in 1575. Were produced Tableware and hollow glass . In 1597 a Johann Nachtmann was mentioned for the first time as a glassmaker in Herzogau. After Gebhard Ruhland's death in 1612, his son-in-law Nikolaus Perschen took over the management of the hut. At that time the property consisted of 38 daily work fields, 67 daily work meadows, as well as 27 cottagers and 6 in people. In autumn 1614 the hut burned down.

On May 12, 1615, the Nuremberg patrician Jakob Geuder von Heroldsberg acquired the glassworks. As a replacement for the burnt down hut, the "Obere Hütte" was built in what is now Althütte and leased to the glass master Johann Bock. Due to financial difficulties, Bock had to hand over the works to Georg Werner, glass master in Obergrafenried, in 1659. Georg Hirsch is named as one of the glassmakers employed by Werner in 1661. In 1682 Georg Werner sold to his cousin Johann Werner, glass master in Schwarzach and his wife Maria Salome, née von Voithenberg. The new owners moved the hut to the neighboring Posthof that same year. After Johann Werner's death, his widow Johann Georg von Wildenau married. After him, the hut was now called "Wildenauer-Hütte".

Due to the border regulations of 1708, Posthof fell to Bohemia until 1764 . Around 1718 the glassworks was relocated to Bavarian territory, where the Unterhütte settlement developed at the new location. After Wildenau died, his widow sold the glassworks and the entire glassworks property to her brother Adam Ernst von Voithenberg in 1722. In 1728 Johann Zacharias I von Voithenberg took over the property. He mainly produced drinking glasses and slugs with a diameter of 14 to 22 cm. In 1751 he handed over the country estate Herzogau to his son Josef Ferdinand, who had the church of St. Anna and Sebastian and the benefit house built. In 1773 he founded a brewery for his own use and to supply his subjects, which was granted free sales from 1791. The increasingly threatening shortage of firewood led to long-term disputes with authorities and neighbors about the wood supply. Even Elector Max Joseph tried to resolve the conflict, which came about in 1774.

When Zacharias II took over Hofmark Herzogau in 1797, 75 glassmakers and their families were based in Unterhütte. In 1801 he had another glassworks built in Öd, which was originally called Ödhütte, then Voithenbergöd and later Voithenberghütte. Initially, mirror glass was produced here. The tenants were the mirror manufacturer Fischer from Erlangen and from 1845 his son-in-law Johann Anton Ziegler from Kreuzhütte. In 1804 the boiler works went into operation near Gleißenberg, where glassmakers from Bohemia also produced mirror glass for von Voithenberg until 1882. At that time, plate and mirror glass were in demand for export, as America was not yet able to meet its own needs, which had increased significantly due to the enormous settlement activity. In a directory of the Bavarian Ministry of Finance from 1818 it says about the businesses of Baron von Voithenberg: " They are of great importance and feed a lot of workers, and deliver all kinds of glass, with the exception of large mirrors. " It must also be in Herzogau Paterl (glass pearls), as Schmeller mentions this in his Bavarian dictionary (1827). Paterl from Herzogau were exported all over the world, for example via Holland to China . In the course of the 19th century, nine glass grinding and polishing works began operations in the area, two of which belonged to the Herzogau glassworks estate. In these works, the glass panels were ground flat and then polished. They were transported to Fürth for further processing , where they were covered with metal foil. From there, the finished mirrors went to all parts of the world via the Fürth-Nuremberg mirror trade, which is represented worldwide. Another glassworks in the Ulrichsgrüner Tal was operated by Emanuel von Lenk from 1825, and then from 1872 to 1919 by the Frank family in what is now Lenkenhütte.

With Johann Nepomuk von Voithenberg, the next generation took over the Herzogau glassworks in 1821. From 1834 the glass cutter (engraver) Michael Nachtmann leased the lower hut and produced drinking glasses, bottles and jugs with 25 glassmakers. From 1851 Franz Xaver Nachtmann ran the business and moved it to Ödhütte (Voithenberghütte). Nachtmann then went to Seebachhütte near Bayerisch Eisenstein with 45 employees in 1866. After that, the Voithenberghütte was leased to the Tritschler und Winterhalder company in Lambach until it closed in 1904.

Due to enormous sales difficulties since the 1860s, including the remoteness of the huts, the lower hut, which was last leased to Schiedermeier and Schwarz, was closed in 1882.

literature

  • Waldmünchner Heimatbote No. 9, 1984 a. No. 30, 1996.
  • D. Mauerhoff: Die Kommerzienräte Wilhelm and Max Hirsch , Radeberger Blätter 2007-08, in: Pressglas-Korrespondenz, 2007-3.
  • Josef Blau : The glassmakers in the Bohemian and Bavarian Forest , Volume I a. II, 1983/84.
  • Christiane Sellner (ed.): The glass forest , 1988.
  • Wilhelm Kaltenstadler: Population and Society of Eastern Bavaria in the Period of Early Industrialization 1780-1820 , 1977.
  • Johann Andreas Schmeller: Bavarian Dictionary , Reprint 1985, Volume 1, Column 413.

Coordinates: 49 ° 21 '16.8 "  N , 12 ° 43' 14.2"  E