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The Westerwald Museum for Ceramics is located in
the town of Höhr-Grenzhausen, about a one-hour ride from either Frankfurt or
Bonn. The museum is housed in a modern building on top of one of the many hills
in this well-known ceramic factory town, and is located directly across the
street from the Rastal factory, producers of stoneware, porcelain and glass beer
steins as well as glass beakers for breweries.
 The Westerwald
region in which the town is located has been the home of dozens of ceramic
factories, most of which at one time or another produced beer steins. Companies
from this region include A. J. Thewalt, Simon Peter Gerz, J. W. Remy, Marzi
& Remy, Wick Werke, Reinhold Hanke, Reinhold Merkelbach, Merkelbach &
Wick, Rastal, Westerwald Team, Beyer GmbH, and Würfel & Müller (King).
Displays concentrate on ceramics from the region but also include important ceramics from other areas including the Raeren, Frechen and Siegburg areas. Since there has been ceramic production in the area since the thirteenth century, there is a significant amount of space devoted to the display of antique pottery and stoneware. Production from areas that were influenced by the Westerwald production style, including Adendorf, Betschdorf (France), Dreihausen and Zorn, and also well-represented. While the museum has a significant collection of its own, loans from other collections, such as the Rastal Collection of Historic Drinking Vessels, make it possible to continually rotate the displays.  There are special
exhibits of antique and contemporary ceramics. Ceramic design competitions are
also displayed. These include the Westerwald Prize for Ceramics and the Special
Prize German Ceramics. There is an active pottery at the museum as well as an
extensive research library. A cafeteria is located within the museum in case you
are there around lunch time.
Höhr-Grenzhausen is located about 15 kilometers northeast of Koblenz on the A48 Autobahn. The museum is on Lindenstrasse, about 500 meters from the Autobahn exit. Hours are 10 to 5 Tuesday to Sunday, closed Monday. |
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Reproduced with the permission of Gary Kirsner Auctions. This article first appeared in "The Beer Stein Journal", May 1995. |
