By Isla Quinn
A forest. A river that splits and joins. A furnace. Zwiesel, in the Bavarian Forest, was built on that arrangement.
Where it is
Wikipedia says Zwiesel is a town in the district of Regen, in Lower Bavaria, at a spot where the Großer Regen and Kleiner Regen meet to form the Black Regen. It lies at the foot of mountains including the Großer Arber, at 1,456 metres. The article describes it as the economic and cultural centre of the middle part of the Bavarian Forest, and names glassmaking, brewing and tourism as the most important industries. Access is by the federal road B11 and the Bavarian Forest Railway.
Why glass here
A hotel’s promotional blog on the Glass Road, the Glasstraße, says forests supplied wood for the furnaces and local quartz sand was suitable raw material. It says glassmaking in the region goes back to the fourteenth century, and that at its height there were hundreds of glassworks in the Bavarian Forest. Wikipedia says the regional glass industry dates to the fifteenth century, and gives the Rabenstein glass hut, founded in 1421.
The century differs: fourteenth in the blog, fifteenth in the encyclopedia. The blog is promotional and gives no document, so we lean toward the one with a dated hut, and say so.
The works of the nineteenth century
Wikipedia gives three dates. The Theresienthal glass factory was founded in 1836. In 1872 the master glass maker Anton Müller began building the Annathal glass works, which later became the Schott-Werke. A technical school for glass manufacturing and decorating was founded in 1904.
The company’s own article on Wikipedia gives a first date in more detail: sheet glass was first made on 25 November 1872 in a new glassworks designed by Anton Mueller, whom it calls a Zwiesel carter. The first Wikipedia page calls him a master glass maker. We give both.
The hotel blog says industrialisation in the nineteenth century closed many small works, though some manufactories survived.
What the company page says
Zwiesel Kristallglas’s Wikipedia article gives the following dates. In 1924 the works made its first container glass for drinking glasses. In 1931 sheet glass production ended in favour of bottle glass. In 1953 crystal glass production began in Zwiesel. In 1961 machine production of cup glasses began. In 1927 the company gained a majority share in Jenaer Glaswerk Schott, which it fully acquired in 1929. It was renamed Schott Zwiesel Glaswerke on 17 August 1972 and Zwiesel Kristallglas in 2001. In 2006 it acquired the trademark rights for “Jenaer Glas”.
The article mentions a management buyout in 2001 and figures for turnover and staff. We leave the figures out.
A road, a queen and a school
The blog says the Glasstraße is about 250 kilometres long and was launched as a tourist route in 1997. It says the region today has dozens of manufactories, galleries and experience workshops, and describes places where visitors can watch glassblowers at work through large windows, with workshops for children aged five and over. That is promotional copy and we have not checked it.
Wikipedia has a separate article on the Zwiesel Glass Queen, who represents the glass industry of the Bavarian Forest and the town. It says elections began in 2003, that she is elected every two years and introduced at the Border Festival, and that a Glass Princess is elected at the same time to assist her.
The glass school of 1904, according to the town’s Wikipedia entry, later grew into a national training centre for glass-related professions.
Side by side
- When did regional glassmaking begin? The hotel blog says the fourteenth century. Wikipedia says the fifteenth, and names a hut of 1421.
- Who built the Annathal works? Wikipedia’s town page calls Anton Müller a master glass maker. The company page calls Anton Mueller a Zwiesel carter.
- What did the Annathal works become? The town page says the Schott-Werke. The company page says Zwiesel Kristallglas, and that Zwiesel later took over Jenaer Glaswerk Schott. These may describe different stages of one history, but the pages do not explain.
- When did the glass school open? 1904, in the town page. The other pages do not say.
The setting in figures
Wikipedia’s town page says Zwiesel is 10 kilometres northeast of Regen, 35 kilometres from Deggendorf, 30 from Grafenau and 15 from the Bayerisch Eisenstein border crossing. The town ranges from 580 to 750 metres in elevation and sits at the foot of the Großer Arber (1,456 metres), the Großer Falkenstein (1,315 metres) and the Kiesruck (1,265 metres).
The Glass Queen’s day job
The Glass Queen’s Wikipedia page says her duties include promoting Zwiesel, leading presentation days for the industry and representing it at events. For 2015 it says she spoke at the European Parliament in Brussels and travelled around Germany. We describe the role only as the page does.
Dates in order
- 14th or 15th century: regional glassmaking begins (blog; encyclopedia).
- 1421: the Rabenstein glass hut (Wikipedia).
- 1836: the Theresienthal works (Wikipedia).
- 1872: the Annathal works begin; first sheet glass on 25 November (Wikipedia, both pages).
- 1904: the technical glass school (Wikipedia).
- 1924: first drinking-glass container glass (Wikipedia).
- 1953: crystal glass production begins (Wikipedia).
- 1972: renamed Schott Zwiesel Glaswerke (Wikipedia).
- 1997: the Glasstraße launched (blog).
- 2001: renamed Zwiesel Kristallglas (Wikipedia).
- 2003: first Glass Queen election (Wikipedia).
What kind of sources these are
Three Wikipedia articles and one hotel’s promotional blog. None is an archive or a company record. For a dated history we would want the company’s own archive or a regional museum.
What the sources do not say
They do not name a working glassmaker we can point you to, and we do not guess. They do not say which designs are made today in Zwiesel and which elsewhere. They do not give a clear date for the end of the many small works.
What we left out
Turnover, job numbers, prices and names of individual workshops and hotels.
Roam first. Shop later.