Silberhütte glassworks

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The Silberhütte glassworks was located in the Silberhütte district of the city of Bärnau in the Tirschenreuth district in Upper Palatinate in Bavaria . Today's Altglashütte and Silberhütte go back to this.

history

Above the present-day town of Altglashütte on the slope of the Kutscherberg, Paulus Schierer founded a glassworks in 1614 on a place "towards the Silberberg". The owner of the hut was given the right to build a brewery and a grinding and cutting mill. Schierer also built three houses for the glassmakers . The glassworks got its name after the Silberberg, which in turn got its name from the silver mine that was operated until the Thirty Years War . In 1681 a silver mine was mentioned in a document. The period of the Thirty Years' War repeatedly brought setbacks: In 1621 soldiers plundered the settlement and the plague year of 1634 meant the temporary end of the glassworks.

In 1643 Hans Kreillinger bought the smelter and started making glass again. In the following years the owners changed frequently, all of which had little success. Around 1660 the Rohrer family from Tirschenreuth built a new hut near the "Drei Brunnen". The Rohrer finally sold the company to the government in Sulzbach , which operated the smelter itself for a year. At that time there were seven glassmakers, a master and three Schürer working on the hut. They made sheet glass and hollow glass , such as "Pläderlein" (medicine bottles), bottles and glass beads . In 1667 the hut was sold to Andreas Gerl from Schwarzach, who gave up after severe setbacks. From 1678 the Schwarzach smelter Johann Werner ran the silver smelter. Due to the poor economic situation, he ceased operations in 1690. Then Christoph Anger from Warmensteinach took over the hut, but failed four years later for financial reasons. In 1707 the hut was demolished.

In 1723 Georg Schmaus acquired 130 Tagwerk Grund about one kilometer south of the demolished hut and built a new glassworks there. This was also called the Silberhütte, popularly known as the “Schmaußenhütte”. In 1769 Wenzel Herschmann from Tissa in Bohemia bought the company; he had previously married Katharina Schmaus. In 1850 Magdalena Herschmann handed over the property to her son Rupert. He sold the hut in 1872 to Leopold Bloch, glass manufacturer from Annathal in Bohemia and Sigmund Arnstein in Sulzbach.

Lobmeyr (1874) gives the following description:

“Silberhütte near Bärnau, Upper Palatinate, Arnstein & Bloch company, founded at the beginning of the 18th century. 1 furnace with 6 ports. Direct wood combustion. Produce half-white mirror glass approx. 3000 quintals. Workers: 30. "

The silver smelter was rebuilt after a fire in 1881. After that, the Bloch & Arnstein company only produced mirror glass. Due to its remote location, the Silberhütte was soon no longer competitive and was closed. In 1893 the Bavarian state bought the entire property and housed a forestry office in the former manor house. Most of the other buildings were demolished.

In 1932 the "Schutzhaus Silberhütte" (restaurant) was built. The location, which is excellent for its snow-sure location ( 818  m above sea  level ) has developed over time into a well-known center for hiking, but above all for cross-country skiing. The Silberhütte cross-country skiing center offers extensive cross- country trails across the nearby border in the Czech Republic .

In 1981 the locations of the silver smelter were archaeologically researched. The finds are exhibited in the East Bavaria Mining and Industry Museum in Kümmersbrucker district Theuern near Amberg.

literature

  • Adalbert Busl : Altglashütte - a glassworks from the 17th century. In: Oberpfälzer Heimat 27, 1983.
  • Adalbert Busl: Forest glassworks in the Upper Palatinate . In: Oberpfälzer Heimat 43, 1999.
  • Annemarie Krauss : On the history of the silver smelter . In: Oberpfälzer Heimat 35, 1991.
  • Ludwig Lobmeyr: The glass industry. Your history, current development and statistics. Stuttgart 1874.
  • Christiane Sellner (ed.): The transparent forest. A guide to historical sites, glassworks and museums in Eastern Bavaria . Munich 1988.

Coordinates: 49 ° 45 ′ 54.4 "  N , 12 ° 23 ′ 45.1"  E