Symposium “Glass is Cultural Heritage – The Value of Handcrafted Flat Glass and Its Significance in the Present and Future”

When people from the fields of historic preservation, architecture, and glass art come together in our historic furnace hall, something special happens:

Exchange, curiosity – and the shared question of how we can authentically preserve valuable architectural heritage while simultaneously ensuring its sustainability for the future.

At our symposium “Glass is Cultural Heritage – The Value of Handcrafted Flat Glass and Its Significance in the Present and Future,” we welcomed more than 130 guests to Waldsassen.

The event featured 18 expert presentations that focused on mouth-blown and hand-cast flat glass and highlighted its significance for historic preservation, architecture, and cultural heritage. The venue was the monastery auditorium in Waldsassen.

The program was complemented by two excursions to the historic furnace hall of our glassworks—one in the evening during glass melting and one in the morning during glass production—which also provided numerous opportunities for professional exchange.

The shared professional exchange on the topics of artisanal flat glass production, historic preservation, architecture, and art enriched the event in a special way with many new insights.

One special occasion fills us with palpable pride: Our manual flat glass production has been included in the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2023—a recognition that demonstrates how important this craft is to our built and cultural landscape.