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Stein Collectors International, Inc. |
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First published in "Hallo Friends", Deutsche Welle Press, Köln, reprinted in Prosit in December 1981 |
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| On the Lahn in the village of Bad Ems. |
The Westerwald - east of the Rhine valley between the Sieg and the
Lahn
- has
not exactly got the best reputation amongst Germany’s low mountain
ranges. In
the past people said of this inhospitable region that the cherries need
two
years to ripen, that Heaven in its anger had let stones rain on the
pastures and
that "the pigs fought over the sunshine". The locals, of course, think
a lot differently. This area abounds in woods and they find it
beautiful and
relaxing. In an attempt to promote tourism they not only offer neat and
tidy
hotels and guest houses but have also opened up Germany’s newest
tourist
route: the Kannenbäcker Strasse.
German children learn about the Kannenbäckerland even when they
are
at school. This southern region of the Westerwald takes its name from
the fact
that for centuries now pitchers and jugs, vases and bowls have been
baked in
kilns here at temperatures of up to 1300° C. Too often, though,
tourists passed
by the Westerwald without actually visiting the area.
That is why the "Kannenbäcker Route" was developed as a new
tourist attraction. Not only does this route take people through a
delightfully
scenic region of hills, woods and lakes, it also introduces them to a
branch of
industry which really is rooted in the soil of the Westerwald and whose
products
have once again become extremely popular.
A
jug made of greyish blue
Westerwald stoneware indicates the route on which 45 pottery and
ceramic works
are located. Visitors are welcome at all of them and can buy anything
that takes
their fancy. Three museums bear testimony to the development of ceramic
art down
the ages. The route passes through friendly towns and villages with
charming
half-timbered buildings and there are lots of wooded hills with
enchanting views
and romantic valleys that are well worth a visit.
In getting to know the Kannerbäckerland the visitor becomes familiar
with
an ancient cultural region in which life has been determined for
thousands of
years by the "white gold of the Westerwald", by clay. This area, in
fact, contains the richest and most high-grade deposits of clay in
Europe. They
have made the Kannenbäckerland the biggest self-contained pottery
center in the
world.
The clay found throughout this region was formed between 70 and 100
million
years ago. That was during the Tertiary period in the Earth’s
development when
what is now the Westerwald was covered by a vast prehistoric sea. Today
the clay
is located between 20 and 60 meters below the surface and is excavated
both
through open-cast and underground mining.
It is probable that even the first settlers in this region, Celtic
tribes,
knew how to use a potter’s wheel.
The first finds date back to around 800 B.C. Later the high-quality
clay of
the Westerwald was used by the Romans and the Franks. In the 13th and
14th
centuries the potters of the Westerwald succeeded in developing
high-fired
stoneware. For hundreds of years now the typical pottery of this region
which
has earned the Kannenbäckerland a world-wide reputation has been
salt-glazed,
greyish blue stoneware.
In the pottery town of Höhr-Grenzhausen there are a good 100 firms
which
are involved in some way in the ceramics industry, and there are
another hundred
in the surrounding towns and villages. In addition the region also
contains some
50 clay pits and mines. Firms of all sizes are found here - from
one-man
potteries to big ceramic factories. They manufacture a wide range of
products:
decorative ceramic articles and those for everyday use, blue and brown
stoneware, Roman pots and clinkers, colorful majolica and architectural
ceramics, plantpots, garden ceramics and stoneware mosaics.
Even tobacco pipes made of clay are still manufactured. So, too, are
traditional clay Nativity figures.
Ancient patterns are still copied and traditional motifs are still used
but
well-known porcelain and ceramic designers are encouraged time and
again to
design new pottery collections that are based on traditional forms and
patterns.
The local authorities and the pottery industry support this development
by
staging ceramic competitions that are becoming more and more popular. A
"Westerwald Ceramics Prize" is even awarded. Today the Westerwald
Ceramics Prize is one of the major pottery awards in Europe.
For many years now great attention has been paid to training young
people to
become potters. Last year the College of Ceramotechnology and the
College of
Ceramic Design in Höhr-Grenzhausen celebrated their hundredth
anniversary. The
State Technical College of the Rhineland-Palatinate has also opened a
special
ceramics department for training ceramics engineers.
The Westerwald and the Kannenbäckerland constitute a region that is
decidedly rural in character, a region of farmers and craftsmen. Not
even the
Romans and the Franks established large settlements here. But this part
of the
world does contain a large number of aristocratic residences.
It was the local princes who built the many castles and other
fortifications
in the Westerwald which add a touch of romanticism to this potter’s
paradise.