Glass Museum – KAROLINKA

The town of Karolinka became well known primarily due to the glass industry. It was established here between 1861 and 1862, and the Karolinina Huť glassworks was opened. The founder, Salomon Reich, named the glassworks after his mother. The town's current name was also derived from her around the turn of the 40s and 50s of the 20th century. The artistry of the local glassmakers was and still is recognized beyond the borders of our republic. The successes of the glassworks were evidenced by the export of their production (amounting to 70%) to the entire world. The main product range of the glassworks included utilitarian table glass and primarily decorations made of glass with precious metals. For many generations, the Karolinina glassworks provided a source of livelihood for many in the region. Over time and due to economic difficulties, production at the glassworks gradually diminished. Currently, only glass decoration is taking place here.
Given the regional significance of the town and its rich - more than 150-year tradition of glass production and processing - there have long been considerations for establishing a museum that would pay tribute to the glassmaking masters, local people, and capture the art of the "proud" craft for future generations.
For this purpose, the city administration selected an abandoned building of a former kindergarten on Nábřežní Street for the location of its own exhibition, and the eastern single-story block was chosen for the exhibition itself.
The building is now accessible through a new central entrance - a tube from Nábřežní Street. Following this communication, the necessary transportation for parking is arranged. The tube - neck is also passable to the courtyard area. The courtyard space has the potential for hosting workshops, social events, or possible expansion of the exhibition.
The exhibition itself consists of a main display area with reception and side openings (lookouts) connected by an "audiovisual room." The social facilities are shared with the neighboring activities of the future multipurpose cultural center.
Creation here had a somewhat non-standard process. At the time of the proposal, we were creating the museum exhibition without a script, forming a space for currently unspecified glass exhibits. The result is a set of monumental atypical metal exhibition showcases that divide the dim "absent" space and direct the movement of visitors through the exhibition, complemented by graphic panels.
“Our script” was based on contrast. The contrast of heavy, hard, solid steel, in which light, fragile glass is exhibited, the contrast of darkness and light, in which we let the exhibits shine and suppress “everything around.” Here are present those contrasts of hard glassworking, where in a stark industrial space, through the heat of fire from hard work, fragile folds arise that are so cold and clear, “the result.” There is the contradiction of products created from rocks in a similar way, where the result is so different.