Boleslawiec
Encyclopedia
Bolesławiec AUD is a town on the Bóbr
river in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship
in southwestern Poland
with 40,837 inhabitants (2006). It is the administrative seat of Bolesławiec County, and of Gmina Bolesławiec (although it is not part of the territory of the latter, the town being an urban gmina
in its own right). Bolesławiec was previously in Jelenia Góra Voivodeship
(1975–1998).
For its long standing pottery
making tradition, Bolesławiec is celebrated as Miasto Ceramiki or "Ceramics City".
duke Bolesław I the Tall. The castellany
of Bolezlauez in Lower Silesia
was first mentioned in a 1201 deed. According to tradition its citizens took part in the Battle of Legnica
during the Mongol invasion of Poland
in 1241.
. Then a part of the Silesian Duchy of Legnica
under Bolesław II the Bald, the town from 1297 belonged to the Duchy of Jawor
under Bolko I the Strict
. In 1316, in order to better protect the townspeople from hostile incursion, new walls were constructed around the town. The city seal, still used today, was also first used in 1316.
In 1346, the town joined seven other urban centers in forming the Silesian Association of Fortified Towns. In that same year, the Duchy of Jawor with Bolesławiec was inherited by Duke Bolko II the Small of Świdnica
and upon his death in 1368, it was inherited by Emperor Charles IV
, who had married Duke Bolko's niece Anna of Świdnica
. The town became part of the Kingdom of Bohemia
, itself a state of the Holy Roman Empire
.
The year 1422 was of particular importance, because in that year, the town was granted beer brewing privileges. The walls surrounding Bunzlau, now more than a century old, in 1429 failed to prevent a Hussite
army from sacking the town. Further tribulations transpired in 1462 when the Bóbr river flooded the lower lying sections of the town. In 1479, the old defenses were replaced by a new double ring of walls.
. Through all of it, the town kept growing: In 1525, the architect Wendel Roskopf
began a rebuilding of the town hall in the new Renaissance
style. 1531 saw the completion of town's first sewage and water supply system; the first apothecary opened its doors in 1558; a post station was established in 1573. In 1596, Bunzlau found itself a stop along the new Via Regia
trade route connecting Breslau with Leipzig
. This was a major factor in promoting the growth of trade and the distribution of products such as the locally produced pottery.
In 1642, during the Thirty Years' War
, Bunzlau experienced another hostile event, this time a pillaging by Swedish
forces under General Lennart Torstenson
, which reduced the castle, church, and much of the housing in ruins. After the First Silesian War
in 1742, the town, along with most of Silesia
, found itself in the expanding Prussian Kingdom
. During the 18th century, a much-esteemed Royal Orphanage was established, a church for Protestant worship erected, and the town hall underwent yet another face lift, this time in the Baroque
manner.
. The demolition of the old ring of defensive walls began around 1820, allowing for the physical expansion of the town out from its medieval center. Beginning in 1844, work commenced on a railway viaduct across the Bober River. Much admired for its engineering, the Bóbr Viaduct stretched 490 meters. In 1897, Bunzlau was selected as the site for Technical College devoted to the ceramics industry. In 1907 the town council resolved to open a museum devoted to the history of pottery making. 1920 witnessed the construction of a concrete motorcar bridge across the Bóbr.
The Second World War
left the town some 60% in ruins, Silesia east of the Oder-Neisse line
was annexed by the Republic of Poland
, the German population exiled
and replaced by Polish refugees from Poland's former eastern territories. Already, in 1945, a school and library were operational. During the 1960s, the ceramic workshops were reopened and then expanded to be joined by a chemical plant, a factory for the production of vials and ampules, and a mining works. The market square was rebuilt in keeping with its historic past, and a new museum dedicated to the town's rich ceramic heritage was opened. Bolesławiec emerged as a significant regional cultural center with an international reputation for hosting a variety of imaginative festivals and events.
, Ołdrzychów, and Bolesławice, has a long ceramic history. The pottery is identified with the German name for the town: Bunzlau. Bunzlauer ware (Ceramika bolesławiecka) evolved out a folk tradition into a distinct ceramic category distinguishble by form, fabric, glaze, and decoration. The term "Bunzlauer ware" may also used to describe stylistically related pottery produced in the neighboring districts of Lusatia
and Saxony
. Taken as a whole Bunzlauer ware ranks among the most important folk pottery traditions in Europe.
The area around Bunzlau is rich in clay
s suited to the potter's wheel
. Typically, utilitarian Bunzlauer pottery was turned on a kick wheel, dried leather hard, dipped in a slip glaze
and then burnt in a rectanglar, cross-draft kiln
. Although fired at temperatures of up to 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit and often classified as stoneware
, the clay actually does not vitrify and Bunzlauer pottery is better categorized as high-fired earthenware. In order to make their pottery watertight, Bunzlauer potters applied a coating of liquid clay, or slip. When fired, the slip glaze varied from a chocolate to dark brown. Since the fabric of Bunzlauer ware retains some porosity, the pottery conveniently was suited for cooking over an open fire or for baking in an oven as well as for storage.
Early Bunzlauer pottery is exceedingly rare today. The majority of a potshop's production would have been intended for farm and kitchen use: kraut containers, cheese sieves, pickling and preserve jars, baking forms, food molds, storage vessels, etc. and soforth. Most of these stock-and-trade storage or cooking items have either disappeared or go unrecognized and undated today.
What has survived is the "fancy ware" intended for display on the table or in the parlor and used with care. In addition to their utilitarian items, the Bunzlauer potteries of Silesia turned out elegant tankards, pitchers and containers, all bathed in the brown slip "glaze" that characterized this early phase of the Bunzlauer style. The tankards and pitchers often received pewter mountings. The first examples of a distinctive Bunzlauer style are ball-shaped jugs and screw-lidded jars, often decorated with applied cartouches filled with intricate floral design. At first the entire pot, including the decorations, was uniformally covered in the same brown slip. Later examples used a yellowish lead glaze for the applied decorations which then stood out against the darker surface of the vessel (Adler, 95). A famous example of Bunzlauer pottery from this period is the hexagonal travel bottle with applied pewter mounts originally belonging to Pastor Merge and dating to 1640/45.
A type of round-bodied jug with spiraling ribs called a "melon jug" attained popularity in the last quarter of the 17th century and continued to be produced on into the next century. Some examples gave up the application of slip in favor of colored lead glazes. After leaving the potshop, many of these melon jugs received pewter lids made by a tinsmith before being shipped off by wagon or on the back of peddler to customers in Prussia, Bohemia, and Poland,`even as far away as Russia.
Once Silesia had come under the control of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1742, the Prussian government took an active interest in promoting the pottery industry and intervened in favor of increased production. It did not take long before there was an influx of potters from Franconia
, Saxony, Lusatia, and Bavaria
eager to work the fine Bunzlauer clays. The old restrictive guild system was ignored as new potteries came into existence. Finally, in 1762, it was abolished.
Among the German potters who moved to Bunzlau was the master potter Johann Gottlieb Joppe who arrived in Bunzlau in 1751 and who, two years later, presented the town with the "Great Pot." Standing some 2.5 meters tall this double-handled storage jar was placed in the town square as a symbol of the technical prowess of Bunzlauer potters.
At about the same time that the wave of German potters arrived so did a new type of pot. It was designed for a very specific purpose—to contain a newly fashionable beverage. Coffee
had been introduced as the drink of choice among the European elite. Since the Bunzlauer clays tolerated rapid changes in temperature they were well suited in the making of coffee pots. These coffee pots were often accompanied sugar bowls, jam jars and milk pitchers to complete the coffee service all covered in a coffee-colored slip.
Initially, the Bunzlauer coffee pots were elongated and egg shaped, their small size emphasizing the preciousness of the contents (Adler, 96). Many of these new forms were covered with delicate sprig-molded reliefs whose white glazing set them off against the chocolate-brown surface of the pot. Coats-of-arms, flowers, angels, stags, and neo-classical figure were common decorative additions to these special vessels. Their appearance is reminiscent of the well-known Jasperware
contemporaneously being produced in England by Josiah Wedgwood
.
inspired porcelain vessels which were cast rather than wheel turned.
So valued had the pottery of the Bunzlauer region become that it was shipped not only throughout the German states but exported into Russia
and Austria
. The 19th-century heyday for Bunzlauer ceramics came in the 1870s when close to 20 different family-run pottery shops were in operation in Bunzlau itself and some 35 in the neighboring town of Naumburg am Queis (Nowogrodziec). A large number of potters were apprenticed during this period and many of them succeeded in opening their own shops. This resulted in a near doubling of the number of pottery-producing firms in Bunzlau by the mid-1890s.
By the end of the 19th century, however, changes in lifestyle, increasing urbanization, and growing competition from new products such as enameled metalware and glass began to constrict sales. Many of the firms were forced to close. Faced with this threat, the remaining Bunzlauer potters, while continuing to meet an agrarian demand for traditional undecorated brown slip vessels, introduced new lines of smaller wares intended for display in the parlors and dining rooms of middle class consumers. They began to experiment with colored glazes and application (spongeware) techniques, all aimed at catching the eye of an increasingly urban and urbane public. In their survival effort the local artisans were aided by professors at the government-sponsored Keramische Fachschule (Ceramic Technical Training School) which had been established in Bunzlau in 1898 under the leadership of the Berlin
ceramicist Dr. Wilhelm Pukall (1860–1936)).
The simple blue-on-white spongeware and swirlware productions of the 1880s and 90s with their clear feldspathic glazes were successful initially but something still more colorful and forceful was needed if modern customers were be attracted. This demand was met when, at the turn of the century, Bunzlauer pottery underwent a colorful transformation and a new chapter in its history was opened.
During the first decades of the 20th century pot shops throughout Silesia and neighboring Lusatia began to decorate their wares with imaginative organic motifs derived from the contemporary Jugendstil aesthetic and applied by brush or, more often, with the aid of cut sponges. Floral designs were common embellishments but the most popular was the Pfauenauge (peacock's eye) design inspired by the Jugendstil decorators' fascination with the peacock's rich plumage. The Pfauenauge motif became the unofficial, but universally recognized, signature trademark for this category of German spongeware.
By the beginning of the second decade of the new century, many of the potteries throughout the region had evolved into sophisticated ceramic studios, generally continuing to turn out the old utilitarian brown-slip production but giving ever-increasing attention to their new line of colorful ware. Although new designs, many based upon the orientalizing forms popular at the time, were introduced, traditional shapes for coffee pots, bowls, and pitchers were retained but with their surfaces now brightened with a wide variety of popular Jugendstil patterns, particularly, that of the Pfauenauge.
Even in the studio wares, the blend of folk art and high art is curious and charming, with many of the new and decorative elements taking on a decidedly "country" appearance. This is true for the production of the art potter, Friedrich Festersen (1880–1915), born in northern Schleswig, who opened his Kunsttoepferei Friedrich Festersen in Berlin in 1909 at about the same time that the peacock's eye motif was beginning to embellish the ceramics of Bunzlau. Festersen's connection with the Bunzlauer potteries is uncertain but the peacock's eye motif is to be found throughout the production of his studio. There is no evidence that Festersen turned himself and the potters he employed may have come from Bunzlau, bringing the fashionable new designs with them. Although Festersen was a casualty of the First World War, his art pottery survived until 1922 under the leadership of his widow Sonja.
Increasingly, individual potters and workshops began to mark their wares. Among the prominent names were those of Robert Burdack (who introduced a unique technique of ceramic intarsia
inlay), Julius Paul, Hugo Reinhold, and Edwin Werner from Bunzlau and from the surrounding towns of Tillendorf (Bolesławice), Ullersdorf (Ołdrzychów), and Naumburg am Queis came Karl Werner, Gerhard Seiler, Hugo Reinwald, Max Lachmann, Bruno Vogt, and Hermann Kuehn.
So popular did the new Bunzlauer style become that several of the firms, using the technical advice offered by the Bunzlau Keramische Fachschule, transormed their pot shops into large-scale, slip-casting ceramic factories. Leading the way in this manufacturing conversion was the pottery company of Julius Paul & Sohn which was founded in 1893 and continued in operation until 1945. This company was rivaled in quality and innovative design by the firms of Hugo Reinhold, and Edwin Werner. While
most of the potteries in Bunzlau and in the surrounding communities continued to utilize the forms by now traditional to Bunzlauer ware, these three "high style" firms experimented with Jugendstil aesthetics and such decorative additions as gold gilding.
All of these commercializing developments encouraged a flourishing export trade which brought shipments of Bunzluer pottery not only to all parts of Europe but into the United States
as well, where it competed with similar but recognizably distinct wares produced in neighboring Saxony and Lusatia by such potters as Paul Schreier of Bischofswerda
. In the United States, Bunzlauer ware was often marketed under the labels of "Blue Mountain Pottery" or "Erphila," the acronym of the Philadelphia retailer Eberling & Reuss).
The economic collapse of Germany following World War I was hard on the potters of Bunzlau. They responded by banding together in order to minimize total cost and to market their wares more effectively. The Vereinigte Topfwarenfabrikanten Bunzlau (Bunzlau Pottery Manufacturers Association) was formed in 1921 and lasted until 1929. Shortly before World War II, six of the potteries agreed to cooperate under the name Aktion Bunzlauer Braunzeug (Bunzlauer Brown Ware Action Group)assuming a new mission to revive the historical traditions of the region's pottery. Much of the ware produced was based upon the elegant examples of the early 19th century.
During the 1920s, the Bunzlauer potters also began to borrow design elements from the postwar Art Deco
style. The geometric patterns of these new designs were well suited to application utilizing the newly invented airbrush canister and stencil patterns. Bunzlauer potteries continued to use the ever popular peacock's eye motif on their spongeware production; they simply added new design lines offering an alternative to a new generation of buyer.
, where Bunzlauer style pottery continued to be produced, long celebrated for their native earthenwares or salt-glazed and cobalt-decorated stonewares. Gerhard Seiler from Naumburg am Queis relocated to Leutershausen
in Bavaria. Paul Vogt, also from Naumburg settled in Pang near Rosenheim
. Max and Wilhelm Werner from Tillendorf initially moved to Höhr-Grenzhausen
in the Westerwald
range before setting up a shop in nearby Hilgert
in 1960. Höhr-Grenzhausen also attracted Georg and Steffi Peltner as well as the firm of Alois Boehm. Georg Greulich opened his pottery in Fredelsloh
. The Buchwald brothers relocated to Bayreuth while Hans Wesenberg founded a studio in Ludwigsburg
. Several of these master potters from the Bunzlau district took on fellow Silesian apprentices who went on to open shops of their own in western Germany. Thus, hundreds of miles to the west of Silesia, the Bunzlauer tradition remained alive and well.
The Bunzlauer style also has survived in the continuously functioning pot shops of former East Germany in the potting communities of Neukirch/Lausitz, Bischofswerda
, Pulsnitz
, and Königsbrück
. The Upper Lusatia
n town of Königsbrück is home to the Frommhold Pottery, founded in 1851, the last survivor of 21 potteries once active in the community. The town of Neukirch boasts three active potteries that carry on the tradition, that of the Kannegiesser family begun in 1824, that of Karl Louis Lehmann established in 1834 and the Heinke Pottery producing ware since 1866. Pulsnitz is the home of the Juergel Pottery, thought to been responsible for first introducing the sponging technique and the peacock's eye motif into Lusatia.
Meanwhile, back in Bunzlau, renamed Bolesławiec, a new and Polish chapter in the pottery's history was opening, after the city had been severely damaged in the war and its Germanic population expelled. The Polish population that moved in found the surviving ceramic manufacturies stripped of machinery and equipment. Nevertheless, one of the old factories was back in operation as early as 1946. Ceramic specialist Professor Tadeusz Szafran was dispatched to oversee the reconstruction of the potteries which also received guidance from the Wrocław Academy of Fine Arts. Szafran supervised the reopening of one of the most significant of the old factories, that of Hugo Reinhold and in 1950 the former firm of Julius Paul reopened under the name Center of Folk and Artistic Industry 'Cepelia'. In 1951, Izabela Zdrzalka became the artistic director of Cepelia, holding that position until 1957. During her tenure, the pottery produced ware decorated with traditional spongeware designs but also experimented with more contemporary forms and decorations but always with the intent of preserving an aesthetic memory of the old Bunzlauer folk pottery tradition, known now as "bunzloki". In 1964, Bronislaw Wolanin joined the Cepelia firm as its artistic director. It was Wolanin who largely was responsible for establishing the designs typifying today's production; this is based upon the continued use of the popular peacock's eye motif. The Cepelia operation moved into greatly enlarged and modernized quarters in 1989 in keeping with increasing demand throughout Europe, the United States and Australia.
The largest producer of Boleslawiec Polish pottery is Boleslawiec Artistic Ceramic. Most of its production is destined for export. It can be recognized by its trademark stamp based upon the three-tower Bunzlau coat-of-arms below the letter "B". This mark was used until 1996 when it was replaced by the letter "B" enclosed within the outline of a typical Bunzlauer coffee pot set above the castle. Boleslawiec pottery shipped to the United States will have "Hand Made in Poland" stamped on the base of each piece of crockery. The Boleslawiec pottery that is most recognizable today is the white or cream colored ceramic with dark blue, green, brown, and sometimes red or purple motifs. The most common designs in today's production include sponge-stamped dots, abstract florals, speckles, windmills, and, of course, the famoous "peacock's eye."
Older, pre-war examples of Bunzlauer pottery are avidly sought after by collectors today. Extensive public collections of Bunzlauer cermics are to be found at the Muzeum Ceramiki in Bolesławiec (with over 1000 pieces) and the Muzeum Narodowego we Wrocławui in Wrocław; in Germany at the Schlesisches Museum in Görlitz
, the permanent exhibition Keramik des Bunzlauer Toepfergebietes at Antik Leonhardt, Görlitz, at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum
in Nuremberg
, at the Keramik-Museum in Berlin, at the Haus der Begegnung of the Bundesheimatgruppe Bunzlau in Siegburg
, at the Heimatmuseums in Neukirch/Lausitz and Pulsnitz, at the Museum Europäischer Kulturen
in Berlin, at the Museum für Sächsische Volkskunst in Dresden
, and at the Sorbisches Museum in Bautzen
; and in the United States at the Columbia Museum of Art
in Columbia, South Carolina
which houses a donated collection of 110 pieces.
http://www.um.boleslawiec.pl/for/index.php?PAGE=1&ROZ=3&LANG=EN
Field Marshal Prince Mikhail Kutuzov died at Bunzlau on 28 April 1813 during the War of the Sixth Coalition
, in 1819 King Frederick William III of Prussia
had a cast iron
memorial erected, designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel
, Denmark Pirna
, Germany Siegburg
, Germany Česká Lípa
, Czech Republic Nogent-sur-Marne
, France Prnjavor, Bosnia and Herzegovina Molde
, Norway
Bóbr
Bóbr is a river which runs through the north of the Czech Republic and the southwest of Poland, a left tributary of the Oder River, with a length of and a basin area of .The Bóbr originates in the Rýchory mountains in the southeast of the Karkonosze range, where the source is...
river in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship
Lower Silesian Voivodeship
Lower Silesian Voivodeship, or Lower Silesia Province , is one of the 16 voivodeships into which Poland is currently divided. It lies in southwestern Poland...
in southwestern Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
with 40,837 inhabitants (2006). It is the administrative seat of Bolesławiec County, and of Gmina Bolesławiec (although it is not part of the territory of the latter, the town being an urban gmina
Gmina
The gmina is the principal unit of administrative division of Poland at its lowest uniform level. It is often translated as "commune" or "municipality." As of 2010 there were 2,479 gminas throughout the country...
in its own right). Bolesławiec was previously in Jelenia Góra Voivodeship
Jelenia Góra Voivodeship
Jelenia Gora Voivodeship was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland in the years 1975–1998, superseded by the Lower Silesian Voivodeship...
(1975–1998).
For its long standing pottery
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...
making tradition, Bolesławiec is celebrated as Miasto Ceramiki or "Ceramics City".
History
The year 2001 marked the 750th anniversary of the town of Bolesławiec, a name derived from the SilesianDuchy of Silesia
The Duchy of Silesia with its capital at Wrocław was a medieval duchy located in the historic Silesian region of Poland. Soon after it was formed under the Piast dynasty in 1138, it fragmented into various Duchies of Silesia. In 1327 the remaining Duchy of Wrocław as well as most other duchies...
duke Bolesław I the Tall. The castellany
Castellany
A castellany was a district administered by a castellan.Castellanies appeared during the Middle Ages and in most current states are now replaced by a more modern type of country subdivision....
of Bolezlauez in Lower Silesia
Lower Silesia
Lower Silesia ; is the northwestern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia; Upper Silesia is to the southeast.Throughout its history Lower Silesia has been under the control of the medieval Kingdom of Poland, the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy from 1526...
was first mentioned in a 1201 deed. According to tradition its citizens took part in the Battle of Legnica
Battle of Legnica
The Battle of Legnica , also known as the Battle of Liegnitz or Battle of Wahlstatt , was a battle between the Mongol Empire and the combined defending forces of European fighters that took place at Legnickie Pole near the city of Legnica in Silesia on 9 April 1241.A combined force of Poles,...
during the Mongol invasion of Poland
Mongol invasion of Poland
The Mongol Invasion of Poland from late 1240 to 1241 culminated in the battle of Legnica, where the Mongols defeated an alliance which included forces from fragmented Poland and members of various Christian military orders, led by Henry II the Pious, the Duke of Silesia. The first invasion's...
in 1241.
Middle Ages
Following this the invasion, a walled town began to take shape. In 1251, mention is made of Boleslawiec's town charterTown privileges
Town privileges or city rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium.Judicially, a town was distinguished from the surrounding land by means of a charter from the ruling monarch that defined its privileges and laws. Common privileges were related to trading...
. Then a part of the Silesian Duchy of Legnica
Duchy of Legnica
The Duchy of Legnica or Duchy of Liegnitz was one of the Duchies of Silesia. Its capital was Legnica in Lower Silesia....
under Bolesław II the Bald, the town from 1297 belonged to the Duchy of Jawor
Duchy of Jawor
Duchy of Jawor was one of the Duchies of Silesia, with a capital in Jawor. It was created in 1274 as a subdivision of the Duchy of Legnica in Lower Silesia under the rule of Henry V the Fat, the eldest son of Duke Bolesław II the Bald...
under Bolko I the Strict
Bolko I the Strict
Bolko I the Strict also known as the Raw or of Jawor , was a Duke of Lwówek during 1278-81 and Jawor since 1278 , sole Duke of Lwówek since 1286, Duke of Świdnica-Ziębice since 1291.He was the second son of Bolesław II the Bald, Duke of Legnica by his first wife Hedwig, daughter of...
. In 1316, in order to better protect the townspeople from hostile incursion, new walls were constructed around the town. The city seal, still used today, was also first used in 1316.
In 1346, the town joined seven other urban centers in forming the Silesian Association of Fortified Towns. In that same year, the Duchy of Jawor with Bolesławiec was inherited by Duke Bolko II the Small of Świdnica
Swidnica
Świdnica is a city in south-western Poland in the region of Silesia. It has a population of 60,317 according to 2006 figures. It lies in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, being the seventh largest town in that voivodeship. From 1975–98 it was in the former Wałbrzych Voivodeship...
and upon his death in 1368, it was inherited by Emperor Charles IV
Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles IV , born Wenceslaus , was the second king of Bohemia from the House of Luxembourg, and the first king of Bohemia to also become Holy Roman Emperor....
, who had married Duke Bolko's niece Anna of Świdnica
Anna von Schweidnitz
Anna of Schweidnitz was Queen of Bohemia, German Queen, and Empress of the Holy Roman Empire. She was the third wife of Emperor Charles IV.-Biography:...
. The town became part of the Kingdom of Bohemia
Kingdom of Bohemia
The Kingdom of Bohemia was a country located in the region of Bohemia in Central Europe, most of whose territory is currently located in the modern-day Czech Republic. The King was Elector of Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution in 1806, whereupon it became part of the Austrian Empire, and...
, itself a state of the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
.
The year 1422 was of particular importance, because in that year, the town was granted beer brewing privileges. The walls surrounding Bunzlau, now more than a century old, in 1429 failed to prevent a Hussite
Hussite Wars
The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars involved the military actions against and amongst the followers of Jan Hus in Bohemia in the period 1419 to circa 1434. The Hussite Wars were notable for the extensive use of early hand-held gunpowder weapons such as hand cannons...
army from sacking the town. Further tribulations transpired in 1462 when the Bóbr river flooded the lower lying sections of the town. In 1479, the old defenses were replaced by a new double ring of walls.
Early modern period
1523 marked the start of the religious wars between Catholics and Protestants, with the majority of the town's residents converting to the new break-away faith — Bunzlau became an important center of the Protestant ReformationProtestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
. Through all of it, the town kept growing: In 1525, the architect Wendel Roskopf
Wendel Roskopf
Wendel Roskopf the Elder was a stonemason and master builder. From 1523 to 1546 he was a council member in the town of Görlitz and from 1526 was also the Ratsbaumeister .- Work :...
began a rebuilding of the town hall in the new Renaissance
Renaissance architecture
Renaissance architecture is the architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 17th centuries in different regions of Europe, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought and material culture. Stylistically, Renaissance...
style. 1531 saw the completion of town's first sewage and water supply system; the first apothecary opened its doors in 1558; a post station was established in 1573. In 1596, Bunzlau found itself a stop along the new Via Regia
Via Regia
Via Regia, i.e. "Royal Highway", denotes a mediæval historic road. The term, in the usual sense, means not just a specific road, rather a type of road. It was legally associated with the king and remained under his special protection and guarantee of public peace.There were many such roads in the...
trade route connecting Breslau with Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
. This was a major factor in promoting the growth of trade and the distribution of products such as the locally produced pottery.
In 1642, during the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
, Bunzlau experienced another hostile event, this time a pillaging by Swedish
Swedish Empire
The Swedish Empire refers to the Kingdom of Sweden between 1561 and 1721 . During this time, Sweden was one of the great European powers. In Swedish, the period is called Stormaktstiden, literally meaning "the Great Power Era"...
forces under General Lennart Torstenson
Lennart Torstenson
Lennart Torstenson, Count of Ortala, Baron of Virestad , was a Swedish Field Marshal and military engineer.-Early career:He was born at Forstena in Västergötland - he always wrote his name Linnardt Torstenson...
, which reduced the castle, church, and much of the housing in ruins. After the First Silesian War
Silesian Wars
The Silesian Wars were a series of wars between Prussia and Austria for control of Silesia. They formed parts of the larger War of the Austrian Succession and Seven Years' War. They eventually ended with Silesia being incorporated into Prussia, and Austrian recognition of this...
in 1742, the town, along with most of Silesia
Silesia
Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
, found itself in the expanding Prussian Kingdom
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
. During the 18th century, a much-esteemed Royal Orphanage was established, a church for Protestant worship erected, and the town hall underwent yet another face lift, this time in the Baroque
Baroque architecture
Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
manner.
Late modern period
From 1815 onwards, Bunzlau belonged to the Prussian Province of SilesiaProvince of Silesia
The Province of Silesia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1815 to 1919.-Geography:The territory comprised the bulk of the former Bohemian crown land of Silesia and the County of Kladsko, which King Frederick the Great had conquered from the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy in the 18th...
. The demolition of the old ring of defensive walls began around 1820, allowing for the physical expansion of the town out from its medieval center. Beginning in 1844, work commenced on a railway viaduct across the Bober River. Much admired for its engineering, the Bóbr Viaduct stretched 490 meters. In 1897, Bunzlau was selected as the site for Technical College devoted to the ceramics industry. In 1907 the town council resolved to open a museum devoted to the history of pottery making. 1920 witnessed the construction of a concrete motorcar bridge across the Bóbr.
The Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
left the town some 60% in ruins, Silesia east of the Oder-Neisse line
Oder-Neisse line
The Oder–Neisse line is the border between Germany and Poland which was drawn in the aftermath of World War II. The line is formed primarily by the Oder and Lusatian Neisse rivers, and meets the Baltic Sea west of the seaport cities of Szczecin and Świnoujście...
was annexed by the Republic of Poland
People's Republic of Poland
The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
, the German population exiled
Flight and expulsion of Germans from Poland during and after World War II
The flight and expulsion of Germans from Poland was the largest of a series of flights and expulsions of Germans in Europe during and after World War II...
and replaced by Polish refugees from Poland's former eastern territories. Already, in 1945, a school and library were operational. During the 1960s, the ceramic workshops were reopened and then expanded to be joined by a chemical plant, a factory for the production of vials and ampules, and a mining works. The market square was rebuilt in keeping with its historic past, and a new museum dedicated to the town's rich ceramic heritage was opened. Bolesławiec emerged as a significant regional cultural center with an international reputation for hosting a variety of imaginative festivals and events.
Bunzlau Ceramic
The town of Bolesławiec has, along with its satellite communes of NowogrodziecNowogrodziec
Nowogrodziec is a town in Bolesławiec County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district called Gmina Nowogrodziec...
, Ołdrzychów, and Bolesławice, has a long ceramic history. The pottery is identified with the German name for the town: Bunzlau. Bunzlauer ware (Ceramika bolesławiecka) evolved out a folk tradition into a distinct ceramic category distinguishble by form, fabric, glaze, and decoration. The term "Bunzlauer ware" may also used to describe stylistically related pottery produced in the neighboring districts of Lusatia
Lusatia
Lusatia is a historical region in Central Europe. It stretches from the Bóbr and Kwisa rivers in the east to the Elbe valley in the west, today located within the German states of Saxony and Brandenburg as well as in the Lower Silesian and Lubusz voivodeships of western Poland...
and Saxony
Electorate of Saxony
The Electorate of Saxony , sometimes referred to as Upper Saxony, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. It was established when Emperor Charles IV raised the Ascanian duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg to the status of an Electorate by the Golden Bull of 1356...
. Taken as a whole Bunzlauer ware ranks among the most important folk pottery traditions in Europe.
The area around Bunzlau is rich in clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
s suited to the potter's wheel
Potter's wheel
In pottery, a potter's wheel is a machine used in asma of round ceramic ware. The wheel may also be used during process of trimming the excess body from dried ware and for applying incised decoration or rings of color...
. Typically, utilitarian Bunzlauer pottery was turned on a kick wheel, dried leather hard, dipped in a slip glaze
Ceramic glaze
Glaze is a layer or coating of a vitreous substance which has been fired to fuse to a ceramic object to color, decorate, strengthen or waterproof it.-Use:...
and then burnt in a rectanglar, cross-draft kiln
Kiln
A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, or oven, in which a controlled temperature regime is produced. Uses include the hardening, burning or drying of materials...
. Although fired at temperatures of up to 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit and often classified as stoneware
Stoneware
Stoneware is a vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic ware with a fine texture. Stoneware is made from clay that is then fired in a kiln, whether by an artisan to make homeware, or in an industrial kiln for mass-produced or specialty products...
, the clay actually does not vitrify and Bunzlauer pottery is better categorized as high-fired earthenware. In order to make their pottery watertight, Bunzlauer potters applied a coating of liquid clay, or slip. When fired, the slip glaze varied from a chocolate to dark brown. Since the fabric of Bunzlauer ware retains some porosity, the pottery conveniently was suited for cooking over an open fire or for baking in an oven as well as for storage.
Origins
There is archaeological evidence for pottery being turned in the region as early as the 7th century. Documentary evidence demonstrates potting activity in Bunzlau, itself, by the 14th century. High fired earthenware covered in brown and yellow lead glazes was being produced in Bunzlau from the late 15th century). By 1473, five separate potteries were at work in the city and in 1511 they came together to form a guild in order to enforce their monopoly of pottery making.Early Bunzlauer pottery is exceedingly rare today. The majority of a potshop's production would have been intended for farm and kitchen use: kraut containers, cheese sieves, pickling and preserve jars, baking forms, food molds, storage vessels, etc. and soforth. Most of these stock-and-trade storage or cooking items have either disappeared or go unrecognized and undated today.
What has survived is the "fancy ware" intended for display on the table or in the parlor and used with care. In addition to their utilitarian items, the Bunzlauer potteries of Silesia turned out elegant tankards, pitchers and containers, all bathed in the brown slip "glaze" that characterized this early phase of the Bunzlauer style. The tankards and pitchers often received pewter mountings. The first examples of a distinctive Bunzlauer style are ball-shaped jugs and screw-lidded jars, often decorated with applied cartouches filled with intricate floral design. At first the entire pot, including the decorations, was uniformally covered in the same brown slip. Later examples used a yellowish lead glaze for the applied decorations which then stood out against the darker surface of the vessel (Adler, 95). A famous example of Bunzlauer pottery from this period is the hexagonal travel bottle with applied pewter mounts originally belonging to Pastor Merge and dating to 1640/45.
A type of round-bodied jug with spiraling ribs called a "melon jug" attained popularity in the last quarter of the 17th century and continued to be produced on into the next century. Some examples gave up the application of slip in favor of colored lead glazes. After leaving the potshop, many of these melon jugs received pewter lids made by a tinsmith before being shipped off by wagon or on the back of peddler to customers in Prussia, Bohemia, and Poland,`even as far away as Russia.
Once Silesia had come under the control of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1742, the Prussian government took an active interest in promoting the pottery industry and intervened in favor of increased production. It did not take long before there was an influx of potters from Franconia
Franconia
Franconia is a region of Germany comprising the northern parts of the modern state of Bavaria, a small part of southern Thuringia, and a region in northeastern Baden-Württemberg called Tauberfranken...
, Saxony, Lusatia, and Bavaria
Electorate of Bavaria
The Electorate of Bavaria was an independent hereditary electorate of the Holy Roman Empire from 1623 to 1806, when it was succeeded by the Kingdom of Bavaria....
eager to work the fine Bunzlauer clays. The old restrictive guild system was ignored as new potteries came into existence. Finally, in 1762, it was abolished.
Among the German potters who moved to Bunzlau was the master potter Johann Gottlieb Joppe who arrived in Bunzlau in 1751 and who, two years later, presented the town with the "Great Pot." Standing some 2.5 meters tall this double-handled storage jar was placed in the town square as a symbol of the technical prowess of Bunzlauer potters.
At about the same time that the wave of German potters arrived so did a new type of pot. It was designed for a very specific purpose—to contain a newly fashionable beverage. Coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
had been introduced as the drink of choice among the European elite. Since the Bunzlauer clays tolerated rapid changes in temperature they were well suited in the making of coffee pots. These coffee pots were often accompanied sugar bowls, jam jars and milk pitchers to complete the coffee service all covered in a coffee-colored slip.
Initially, the Bunzlauer coffee pots were elongated and egg shaped, their small size emphasizing the preciousness of the contents (Adler, 96). Many of these new forms were covered with delicate sprig-molded reliefs whose white glazing set them off against the chocolate-brown surface of the pot. Coats-of-arms, flowers, angels, stags, and neo-classical figure were common decorative additions to these special vessels. Their appearance is reminiscent of the well-known Jasperware
Jasperware
Jasperware, or jasper ware, is a type of stoneware first developed by Josiah Wedgwood, although some authorities have described it as a type of porcelain...
contemporaneously being produced in England by Josiah Wedgwood
Josiah Wedgwood
Josiah Wedgwood was an English potter, founder of the Wedgwood company, credited with the industrialization of the manufacture of pottery. A prominent abolitionist, Wedgwood is remembered for his "Am I Not A Man And A Brother?" anti-slavery medallion. He was a member of the Darwin–Wedgwood family...
.
Industrialisation
Under the auspices of the Prussian kings, who encouraged the growth of the Silesian ceramic industry, Bunzlauer ware achieved a widespread recognition and was shipped throughout the states of Germany. Bunzlauer popularity increased even more after 1828 when the potter Johann Gottlieb Altmann produced a feldspar substitute for the dangerous lead glaze that previously had been used on the interior of the vessels. Altmann also turned his attention to the production of a line of BiedermeierBiedermeier
In Central Europe, the Biedermeier era refers to the middle-class sensibilities of the historical period between 1815, the year of the Congress of Vienna at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, and 1848, the year of the European revolutions...
inspired porcelain vessels which were cast rather than wheel turned.
So valued had the pottery of the Bunzlauer region become that it was shipped not only throughout the German states but exported into Russia
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
and Austria
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
. The 19th-century heyday for Bunzlauer ceramics came in the 1870s when close to 20 different family-run pottery shops were in operation in Bunzlau itself and some 35 in the neighboring town of Naumburg am Queis (Nowogrodziec). A large number of potters were apprenticed during this period and many of them succeeded in opening their own shops. This resulted in a near doubling of the number of pottery-producing firms in Bunzlau by the mid-1890s.
By the end of the 19th century, however, changes in lifestyle, increasing urbanization, and growing competition from new products such as enameled metalware and glass began to constrict sales. Many of the firms were forced to close. Faced with this threat, the remaining Bunzlauer potters, while continuing to meet an agrarian demand for traditional undecorated brown slip vessels, introduced new lines of smaller wares intended for display in the parlors and dining rooms of middle class consumers. They began to experiment with colored glazes and application (spongeware) techniques, all aimed at catching the eye of an increasingly urban and urbane public. In their survival effort the local artisans were aided by professors at the government-sponsored Keramische Fachschule (Ceramic Technical Training School) which had been established in Bunzlau in 1898 under the leadership of the Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
ceramicist Dr. Wilhelm Pukall (1860–1936)).
The simple blue-on-white spongeware and swirlware productions of the 1880s and 90s with their clear feldspathic glazes were successful initially but something still more colorful and forceful was needed if modern customers were be attracted. This demand was met when, at the turn of the century, Bunzlauer pottery underwent a colorful transformation and a new chapter in its history was opened.
During the first decades of the 20th century pot shops throughout Silesia and neighboring Lusatia began to decorate their wares with imaginative organic motifs derived from the contemporary Jugendstil aesthetic and applied by brush or, more often, with the aid of cut sponges. Floral designs were common embellishments but the most popular was the Pfauenauge (peacock's eye) design inspired by the Jugendstil decorators' fascination with the peacock's rich plumage. The Pfauenauge motif became the unofficial, but universally recognized, signature trademark for this category of German spongeware.
By the beginning of the second decade of the new century, many of the potteries throughout the region had evolved into sophisticated ceramic studios, generally continuing to turn out the old utilitarian brown-slip production but giving ever-increasing attention to their new line of colorful ware. Although new designs, many based upon the orientalizing forms popular at the time, were introduced, traditional shapes for coffee pots, bowls, and pitchers were retained but with their surfaces now brightened with a wide variety of popular Jugendstil patterns, particularly, that of the Pfauenauge.
Even in the studio wares, the blend of folk art and high art is curious and charming, with many of the new and decorative elements taking on a decidedly "country" appearance. This is true for the production of the art potter, Friedrich Festersen (1880–1915), born in northern Schleswig, who opened his Kunsttoepferei Friedrich Festersen in Berlin in 1909 at about the same time that the peacock's eye motif was beginning to embellish the ceramics of Bunzlau. Festersen's connection with the Bunzlauer potteries is uncertain but the peacock's eye motif is to be found throughout the production of his studio. There is no evidence that Festersen turned himself and the potters he employed may have come from Bunzlau, bringing the fashionable new designs with them. Although Festersen was a casualty of the First World War, his art pottery survived until 1922 under the leadership of his widow Sonja.
Increasingly, individual potters and workshops began to mark their wares. Among the prominent names were those of Robert Burdack (who introduced a unique technique of ceramic intarsia
Intarsia
Intarsia is a form of wood inlaying that is similar to marquetry. The term is also used for a similar technique used with small, highly polished stones set in a marble matrix .- History :...
inlay), Julius Paul, Hugo Reinhold, and Edwin Werner from Bunzlau and from the surrounding towns of Tillendorf (Bolesławice), Ullersdorf (Ołdrzychów), and Naumburg am Queis came Karl Werner, Gerhard Seiler, Hugo Reinwald, Max Lachmann, Bruno Vogt, and Hermann Kuehn.
So popular did the new Bunzlauer style become that several of the firms, using the technical advice offered by the Bunzlau Keramische Fachschule, transormed their pot shops into large-scale, slip-casting ceramic factories. Leading the way in this manufacturing conversion was the pottery company of Julius Paul & Sohn which was founded in 1893 and continued in operation until 1945. This company was rivaled in quality and innovative design by the firms of Hugo Reinhold, and Edwin Werner. While
most of the potteries in Bunzlau and in the surrounding communities continued to utilize the forms by now traditional to Bunzlauer ware, these three "high style" firms experimented with Jugendstil aesthetics and such decorative additions as gold gilding.
All of these commercializing developments encouraged a flourishing export trade which brought shipments of Bunzluer pottery not only to all parts of Europe but into the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as well, where it competed with similar but recognizably distinct wares produced in neighboring Saxony and Lusatia by such potters as Paul Schreier of Bischofswerda
Bischofswerda
Bischofswerda is a small town in Germany at the western edge of Upper Lusatia in Saxony.-Geography:The town is located 33 km to the east of Dresden at the edge of the Upper Lusatian mountain country. The town is known as the "Gateway to Upper Lusatia" - "Tor zur Oberlausitz" in German. It is...
. In the United States, Bunzlauer ware was often marketed under the labels of "Blue Mountain Pottery" or "Erphila," the acronym of the Philadelphia retailer Eberling & Reuss).
The economic collapse of Germany following World War I was hard on the potters of Bunzlau. They responded by banding together in order to minimize total cost and to market their wares more effectively. The Vereinigte Topfwarenfabrikanten Bunzlau (Bunzlau Pottery Manufacturers Association) was formed in 1921 and lasted until 1929. Shortly before World War II, six of the potteries agreed to cooperate under the name Aktion Bunzlauer Braunzeug (Bunzlauer Brown Ware Action Group)assuming a new mission to revive the historical traditions of the region's pottery. Much of the ware produced was based upon the elegant examples of the early 19th century.
During the 1920s, the Bunzlauer potters also began to borrow design elements from the postwar Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
style. The geometric patterns of these new designs were well suited to application utilizing the newly invented airbrush canister and stencil patterns. Bunzlauer potteries continued to use the ever popular peacock's eye motif on their spongeware production; they simply added new design lines offering an alternative to a new generation of buyer.
Post-war era
The defeat at World War II and the annexation of Silesia by Poland with the subsequent expulsion of the German population threatened to end the Bunzlauer ceramic tradition but it managed to survive in the shops established by displaced potters in the ceramic centers of West GermanyWest Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
, where Bunzlauer style pottery continued to be produced, long celebrated for their native earthenwares or salt-glazed and cobalt-decorated stonewares. Gerhard Seiler from Naumburg am Queis relocated to Leutershausen
Leutershausen
Leutershausen is a municipality in the district of Ansbach, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Altmühl, 12 km west of Ansbach.-History:...
in Bavaria. Paul Vogt, also from Naumburg settled in Pang near Rosenheim
Rosenheim
Rosenheim is a town in Bavaria at the confluence of the rivers Inn and Mangfall. It is seat of administration of the district of Rosenheim, but is not a part of it.-Geography:...
. Max and Wilhelm Werner from Tillendorf initially moved to Höhr-Grenzhausen
Höhr-Grenzhausen
Höhr-Grenzhausen is a town in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a centre for the ceramic industry in the Kannenbäckerland with a professional college for ceramics, another for ceramic form, and many others, hence the nickname Kannenbäckerstadt .Together with the...
in the Westerwald
Westerwald
The Westerwald is a low mountain range on the right bank of the River Rhine in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a part of the Rhine Massif...
range before setting up a shop in nearby Hilgert
Hilgert
Hilgert in the Kannenbäckerland is an Ortsgemeinde – a community belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde – in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-Location:Hilgert lies roughly 13 km from Koblenz on the edge of the Nassau Nature Park...
in 1960. Höhr-Grenzhausen also attracted Georg and Steffi Peltner as well as the firm of Alois Boehm. Georg Greulich opened his pottery in Fredelsloh
Fredelsloh
Fredelsloh is a village in Lower Saxony in Germany close to the town of Northeim. The town is historically agricultural, but today derives much income from its traditional pottery shops. The village is centred on a very large church, which was formerly a mediaeval nunnery...
. The Buchwald brothers relocated to Bayreuth while Hans Wesenberg founded a studio in Ludwigsburg
Ludwigsburg
Ludwigsburg is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about north of Stuttgart city centre, near the river Neckar. It is the largest and primary city of the Ludwigsburg urban district with about 87,000 inhabitants...
. Several of these master potters from the Bunzlau district took on fellow Silesian apprentices who went on to open shops of their own in western Germany. Thus, hundreds of miles to the west of Silesia, the Bunzlauer tradition remained alive and well.
The Bunzlauer style also has survived in the continuously functioning pot shops of former East Germany in the potting communities of Neukirch/Lausitz, Bischofswerda
Bischofswerda
Bischofswerda is a small town in Germany at the western edge of Upper Lusatia in Saxony.-Geography:The town is located 33 km to the east of Dresden at the edge of the Upper Lusatian mountain country. The town is known as the "Gateway to Upper Lusatia" - "Tor zur Oberlausitz" in German. It is...
, Pulsnitz
Pulsnitz
Pulsnitz is a town in the district of Bautzen, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is situated 11 km southwest of Kamenz, and 24 km northeast of the centre of Dresden....
, and Königsbrück
Königsbrück
Königsbrück is a town in the Bautzen district, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is situated west of Kamenz, and northeast of the Saxon capital Dresden...
. The Upper Lusatia
Upper Lusatia
Upper Lusatia is a region a biggest part of which belongs to Saxony, a small eastern part belongs to Poland, the northern part to Brandenburg. In Saxony, Upper Lusatia comprises roughly the districts of Bautzen and Görlitz , in Brandenburg the southern part of district Oberspreewald-Lausitz...
n town of Königsbrück is home to the Frommhold Pottery, founded in 1851, the last survivor of 21 potteries once active in the community. The town of Neukirch boasts three active potteries that carry on the tradition, that of the Kannegiesser family begun in 1824, that of Karl Louis Lehmann established in 1834 and the Heinke Pottery producing ware since 1866. Pulsnitz is the home of the Juergel Pottery, thought to been responsible for first introducing the sponging technique and the peacock's eye motif into Lusatia.
Meanwhile, back in Bunzlau, renamed Bolesławiec, a new and Polish chapter in the pottery's history was opening, after the city had been severely damaged in the war and its Germanic population expelled. The Polish population that moved in found the surviving ceramic manufacturies stripped of machinery and equipment. Nevertheless, one of the old factories was back in operation as early as 1946. Ceramic specialist Professor Tadeusz Szafran was dispatched to oversee the reconstruction of the potteries which also received guidance from the Wrocław Academy of Fine Arts. Szafran supervised the reopening of one of the most significant of the old factories, that of Hugo Reinhold and in 1950 the former firm of Julius Paul reopened under the name Center of Folk and Artistic Industry 'Cepelia'. In 1951, Izabela Zdrzalka became the artistic director of Cepelia, holding that position until 1957. During her tenure, the pottery produced ware decorated with traditional spongeware designs but also experimented with more contemporary forms and decorations but always with the intent of preserving an aesthetic memory of the old Bunzlauer folk pottery tradition, known now as "bunzloki". In 1964, Bronislaw Wolanin joined the Cepelia firm as its artistic director. It was Wolanin who largely was responsible for establishing the designs typifying today's production; this is based upon the continued use of the popular peacock's eye motif. The Cepelia operation moved into greatly enlarged and modernized quarters in 1989 in keeping with increasing demand throughout Europe, the United States and Australia.
The largest producer of Boleslawiec Polish pottery is Boleslawiec Artistic Ceramic. Most of its production is destined for export. It can be recognized by its trademark stamp based upon the three-tower Bunzlau coat-of-arms below the letter "B". This mark was used until 1996 when it was replaced by the letter "B" enclosed within the outline of a typical Bunzlauer coffee pot set above the castle. Boleslawiec pottery shipped to the United States will have "Hand Made in Poland" stamped on the base of each piece of crockery. The Boleslawiec pottery that is most recognizable today is the white or cream colored ceramic with dark blue, green, brown, and sometimes red or purple motifs. The most common designs in today's production include sponge-stamped dots, abstract florals, speckles, windmills, and, of course, the famoous "peacock's eye."
Older, pre-war examples of Bunzlauer pottery are avidly sought after by collectors today. Extensive public collections of Bunzlauer cermics are to be found at the Muzeum Ceramiki in Bolesławiec (with over 1000 pieces) and the Muzeum Narodowego we Wrocławui in Wrocław; in Germany at the Schlesisches Museum in Görlitz
Görlitz
Görlitz is a town in Germany. It is the easternmost town in the country, located on the Lusatian Neisse River in the Bundesland of Saxony. It is opposite the Polish town of Zgorzelec, which was a part of Görlitz until 1945. Historically, Görlitz was in the region of Upper Lusatia...
, the permanent exhibition Keramik des Bunzlauer Toepfergebietes at Antik Leonhardt, Görlitz, at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum
Germanisches Nationalmuseum
The Germanisches Nationalmuseum is a museum in Nuremberg, Germany. Founded in 1852, houses a large collection of items relating to German culture and art extending from prehistoric times through to the present day...
in Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
, at the Keramik-Museum in Berlin, at the Haus der Begegnung of the Bundesheimatgruppe Bunzlau in Siegburg
Siegburg
--122.148.78.228 05:06, 14 November 2011 Siegburg is a city in the district of Rhein-Sieg-Kreis, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany...
, at the Heimatmuseums in Neukirch/Lausitz and Pulsnitz, at the Museum Europäischer Kulturen
Museum Europäischer Kulturen
The Museum of European Cultures is located in the Dahlem neighborhood of the borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Berlin, Germany.The museum is located in the same building together with the Ethnological Museum of Berlin and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst....
in Berlin, at the Museum für Sächsische Volkskunst in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, and at the Sorbisches Museum in Bautzen
Bautzen
Bautzen is a hill-top town in eastern Saxony, Germany, and administrative centre of the eponymous district. It is located on the Spree River. As of 2008, its population is 41,161...
; and in the United States at the Columbia Museum of Art
Columbia Museum of Art
The Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, South Carolina has a collection of European and American fine and decorative art that spans several centuries...
in Columbia, South Carolina
Columbia, South Carolina
Columbia is the state capital and largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 129,272 according to the 2010 census. Columbia is the county seat of Richland County, but a portion of the city extends into neighboring Lexington County. The city is the center of a metropolitan...
which houses a donated collection of 110 pieces.
http://www.um.boleslawiec.pl/for/index.php?PAGE=1&ROZ=3&LANG=EN
People from Bolesławiec
- The BaroqueBaroqueThe Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
poet Martin Opitz was born at Bunzlau on 23 December 1597. He brought an impressive circle of poets to the city and with his works and travels made it famous in far away places - Carl Ferdinand AppunCarl Ferdinand AppunCarl Ferdinand Appun was a German naturalist.On the recommendation of Alexander von Humboldt Humboldt Appun was employed by Frederick William IV of Prussia as a botanist in Venezuela where excepting a one year break in Germany, he spent ten years exploring the flora...
(1820–1872), naturalist - Reinhold RöhrichtReinhold RöhrichtGustav Reinhold Röhricht was a German historian of the crusades.-Biography:He was born in Bunzlau in Silesia , the third son of a miller. He studied at the Gymnasium in Sagan from 1852 to 1862, and then attended the Berlin Theological School, where he obtained his licentiate in 1866...
(1842–1905), historian - Fritz SchulzFritz SchulzFritz Schulz was a German jurist and legal historian. He was one of the 20th centuries' most important scholars in the field of Roman Law. The Nazis forced him to leave Germany and to emigrate to England due to his political stance and his Jewish origins.-Life:Schulz was born in Bolesławiec , then...
(1879–1957), jurist and writer - Dieter HildebrandtDieter HildebrandtDieter Hildebrandt is a German Kabarett artist.Born in Bunzlau, Lower Silesia, Hildebrandt attended school until he became an assistant for the German Air Force in World War II...
, cabaretCabaretCabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
artist, born 1927
Field Marshal Prince Mikhail Kutuzov died at Bunzlau on 28 April 1813 during the War of the Sixth Coalition
War of the Sixth Coalition
In the War of the Sixth Coalition , a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, Spain and a number of German States finally defeated France and drove Napoleon Bonaparte into exile on Elba. After Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia, the continental powers...
, in 1819 King Frederick William III of Prussia
Frederick William III of Prussia
Frederick William III was king of Prussia from 1797 to 1840. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel .-Early life:...
had a cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
memorial erected, designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel
Karl Friedrich Schinkel
Karl Friedrich Schinkel was a Prussian architect, city planner, and painter who also designed furniture and stage sets. Schinkel was one of the most prominent architects of Germany and designed both neoclassical and neogothic buildings.-Biography:Schinkel was born in Neuruppin, Margraviate of...
Twin towns - sister cities
HobroHobro
Hobro with a population of 11,635 - is a town in Mariagerfjord municipality in Region Nordjylland on the Jutland peninsula in northern Denmark....
, Denmark Pirna
Pirna
Pirna is a town in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, capital of the administrative district Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge. The town's population is over 40,000. Pirna is located near Dresden and is an important district town as well as a Große Kreisstadt...
, Germany Siegburg
Siegburg
--122.148.78.228 05:06, 14 November 2011 Siegburg is a city in the district of Rhein-Sieg-Kreis, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany...
, Germany Česká Lípa
Ceská Lípa
Česká Lípa a district seat and the largest city of the district bearing the same name. Česká Lípa can be reached easily from the north via Dresden, Bautzen, and the border crossing at Seifhennersdorf / Varnsdorf. Together with Liberec, being a higher administrative region, it is a part of Nisa...
, Czech Republic Nogent-sur-Marne
Nogent-sur-Marne
Nogent-sur-Marne is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Nogent-sur-Marne is a sous-préfecture of the Val-de-Marne département, being the seat of the Arrondissement of Nogent-sur-Marne.-History:...
, France Prnjavor, Bosnia and Herzegovina Molde
Molde
is a city and municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Romsdal region. The municipality is located on the Romsdal Peninsula, surrounding the Fannefjord and Moldefjord...
, Norway
External links
- Official Site of Bolesławiec
- Local companies and organizations
- Bolesławiec.org/Istotne Informacje - Local News Service (in Polish)
- PKP Bolesławiec - railway station
- Bunzlau (Bunzel(au)) on map of Germany in 1600
