PD/Municipality of Wadgassen) The era of glass production, which was so significant for the district of Wadgassen in the municipality of the same name and had begun so promisingly in 1843, already came to an end in 2010. After the glassworks was founded by the industrialists Villeroy, Karcher, Raspiller, and Boch, the remains of the small monastery village experienced a rapid boom in the second half of the 19th century, transforming the village into a thriving industrial town. Numerous new residents of Wadgassen immigrated from Lorraine glass locations and, with the expertise they brought with them, laid the foundations for an era of glass manufacturing lasting more than 170 years by the soon-to-be-formed company Villeroy & Boch in Wadgassen.
Together with the Förderverein Glaskultur Saarland e.V., the municipality of Wadgassen has set out to present the topic of glass from Wadgassen in a special exhibition in the foyer of the German Newspaper Museum. This special exhibition features a variety of crystal glasses with unique shapes and finishing techniques, but also the rather rarely mentioned pressed glass from Wadgassen, whose beauties are honored in this exhibition.
More than 150 unusual and almost forgotten glasses are on display. The oldest glass pieces date back to the 1860s and were thus pressed and blown nearly 20 years after the founding. As already mentioned, pressed glass is deliberately given a special significance in the exhibition, especially because of its diversity of shapes and particular elegance. The young crystal factory in Wadgassen took inspiration from the pressed glass success series of the neighboring lead glass factories Saint Louis les Bitche and Baccarat, which can be attributed to historicism. This is reflected, for example, in the 1846 catalog, which already features a page with “pressed goods in various colors.”
A place among the best glassworks in Germany was achieved by the Wadgasser Cristallerie of Villeroy and Boch around 1900 and again in the 1960s with their drinking glass sets made of semi- and lead crystal. With the name Cristallerie, the glassmakers committed themselves from the start to particularly pure and high-quality glass. Also, a department for art glass was already established before 1900, which reached its peak in the glass art of Edmund Rigot (*1885 +1946) in the 1920s and 1930s. Thanks to the willing consent of a descendant of this glass artist, examples of his extraordinary work are also shown in the exhibition. "I am thrilled that we have succeeded in being able to present this special glass exhibition in Wadgassen," adds Mayor Sebastian Greiber, for without glass production in Wadgassen, the present-day municipality would hardly have developed to its current size. "The topic of glass," Greiber continues, "is, alongside coal mines and the steel industry, the third industrial development line in the Saar region since the 19th century and deserves greater attention, which we want to demonstrate with this exhibition."
In addition to the two exhibition partners (Municipality of Wadgassen and Support Association for Glass Culture in Saarland e.V.), who aim to bring the topic of glass more prominently into the public eye, it should be mentioned that the exhibited glass objects mostly come from the collection of the collector couple Burkhardt and Maria Valentin, the collection of Reinhild Rigot-Degardin, and from archival holdings of the company Villeroy & Boch, for whose presentation opportunities the exhibition organizers express their sincere thanks. The exhibition would also not be possible in this form without the cooperation with the German Newspaper Museum and the premises jointly used with the municipality in the historic Abbey Courtyard.
Information
The exhibition 'Fascination Glass. Finds from the Cristallerie Wadgassen' is open from Friday, October 20, 2023, to Sunday, January 7, 2024.
The exhibition can be visited free of charge during the opening hours of the German Newspaper Museum (German Newspaper Museum Am Abteihof 1 66787 Wadgassen +49 (0)6834.9423-0. Opening hours: Tuesday - Sunday: 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.).
Special guided tours through the exhibition and the topic of Cristall and glass from Wadgassen are available during the mentioned opening hours by prior arrangement via tourismus@wadgassen.de!
Information about a supporting program during the exhibition period will be specifically provided from November 2023 on www.wadgassen.de and in the press.
The public vernissage will take place on October 19, 2023, at 6:00 PM in the Grand Hall of the Abteihof.
