Rhenish Stoneware
You thought I was done, but you’d be wrong. I ended the “research” but there’s still, well, stuff to do.
For one, I did not yet go to the Westerwald. This is the “other” continuing stoneware pottery centre.
The Westerwald is where potters from Siegburg and Raeren went at the end of the 16th century. Siegburg was running out of wood and losing customers to the newer Rennaisance designs of Frechen stoneware.
Raeren ended up in the Spanish Netherlands which drove some of the protestant potters to the Westerwald.
Both Raeren and Siegburg were heavily impacted by the 30year war.
So we ended up with 2 surviving centres.
Frechen, which converted over time to the production of stoneware tiles and water/refuse pipes (until the early 2000).
The Westerwald (Höhr-Grenzhausen) which took up mass production and kept it up also until the early 2000).
The trip to the Westerwald is planned for May, including the Keramikmuseum.
I’ve also compiled a list of photographs I want to take in Cologne and Siegburg. There’s also another three museums I haven’t seen yet (two are closed for renovations atm)
#history #archaeology #rhineland #stoneware #steinzeug #retirement