Glassworks (Amberg)

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The Amberg Glassworks or the "Glass Cathedral" (2010)
Glassworks Amberg (2010)

The glassworks in Amberg, formerly Thomas-Glaswerk , unofficially also "Glass Cathedral", is the production facility of the Kristall-Glasfabrik Amberg GmbH & Co. KG, a glass manufacturer in Amberg in Upper Palatinate . The industrial building is the last building by the Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius , who did not see its completion in 1970.

History and description

The factory hall is inserted in a depression at the site of the former Elisabethhütte in the Bergsteig district on the outskirts of Amberg. The complex is modeled on a basilica . The melting furnace hall, which dominates as the “ central nave ”, has a triangular cross-section. It is strongly structured by reinforced concrete trusses and staggered sloping roof areas with horizontally inserted ribbon windows.

The low, low-rise buildings on the long sides (for finishing, storage and dispatch) are connected to the central furnace hall by glazed corridors. The planning was carried out from 1967 by Walter Gropius / TAC ( The Architects Collaborative Inc.) and his office partner Alexander Cvijanovic . The construction was completed in 1970.

The glass factory was originally the production facility of Thomas-Glas, a subsidiary of Rosenthal AG . Gropius had already planned the construction of the company headquarters in Selb three years earlier on behalf of Philip Rosenthal . The company has since changed its name to Kristall-Glasfabrik Amberg GmbH & Co. KG and is majority owned by FX Nachtmann Bleikristallwerke . The focus of production is the manufacture of drinking glasses on behalf of the Austrian Riedel Group .

Monument protection

The former Thomas glass works is in the Bavarian Monument List of the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation under the file no. D-3-61-000-427 led. The former Thomas glass works is one of the youngest architectural monuments in Bavaria.

literature

  • Wilhelm Koch, Ira Diana Mazzoni: Walter Gropius - "Glaswerk Amberg" (= construction documentation 02). Büro Wilhelm, Amberg 2015, ISBN 978-3-943242-59-1 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Isolde Stöcker-Gietl: A cathedral for the glass industry. The MZ presents the most spectacular buildings in Eastern Bavaria. The last work by Bauhaus founder Gropius is in Amberg. Mittelbayerischer Verlag KG, July 22, 2012, accessed on July 11, 2016 .
  2. ^ Walter Gropius - "Glaswerk Amberg" photographs by Erich Spahn. (No longer available online.) LUFTMUSEUM eV, archived from the original on July 2, 2016 ; Retrieved July 11, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.luftmuseum.de

Coordinates: 49 ° 25 '38.3 "  N , 11 ° 53' 7.4"  E