Our museum at a glance

Big House
Museum workshop
The museum glassblower demonstrates the further processing of glass in front of the 1200 °C hot flame. He demonstrates to visitors how a glass ball is blown from a glass tube, how the base of a drinking glass is spun open or how a glass animal is hot-mounted. On request, he produces replicas of historical glasses, blows each visitor's individual glass for home and invites visitors to blow a glass ball themselves.
Museum shop
In the museum shop, visitors can purchase glass replicas, products of the Wertheim glass industry, modern glass art objects or buy glass souvenirs for home, friends or family. In doing so, they support glass craftsmanship and contribute to the continued existence of the GLASMUSEUM WERTHEIM e. V..
"Follow the HEART - follow the HEART and discover the material GLASS"
Visitors are cordially invited to take a journey through more than 3000 years of development of the material GLASS and to discover the HEART pieces of the GLASMUSEUM WERTHEIM - from the ointment jars of antiquity to optical fibers and the Wertheim glass industry. Symbolized by the faceted crystal-like HEART, the 21 HEART themes convey the many facets of glass as a material.
The "pulsating" HEART of Wertheim is GLASS. Starting on the first floor, the "Wertheim Wall" conveys the development of the Wertheim glass industry (from 1948) into what is now the second largest center of the German specialty glass industry. Following the HEART, visitors can experience the importance of glass as a material in our everyday lives, industry, medicine and pharmacy on two upper floors using selected HEART pieces as examples - the rhinestone crown, Jena vegetable bowl, thumbturn, alembic, "angel hair machine", Galileo thermometer or the first studio glass objects.
Small house
Historical Christmas tree ornament collection
The development of the Thuringian Christmas tree ornament industry - the basis of the Wertheim laboratory glassware industry
A special highlight is the "Historical Christmas tree decoration collection". It shows the glass-technological development of the Christmas tree decoration industry in Lauscha, which still exists today and whose shapes, colors and motifs are oriented towards the fashions and preferences of the respective social form and the wishes of the customers. The further development of individual work processes and the implementation of new production methods by the Thuringian glassblowers formed the basis for the emergence of the glass processing laboratory glass industry and industrial glass fiber production in Thuringia, which settled in Wertheim from 1948. "Lauscha Christmas tree decorations" were added to UNESCO's national list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2021.
Thuringian Christmas tree decorations made of glass have been on sale since the Biedermeier period. In the first half of the 19th century, the Christmas tree was no longer only set up in squares in the cities, but was brought into the "good parlour" of the citizens.
The "Scientific Glass Cabinet"
Another HEART piece is the "Scientific Glass" cabinet. Using the example of individual scientists and their inventions, it shows how glass was first used for science and what groundbreaking scientific successes were achieved with it: Galileo Galilei developed binoculars and used them to prove that the earth revolves around the sun, Isaack Newton discovered with the glass prism that light consists of the 7 colors of the rainbow, and much more.
Glass Bead Cabinet
The GLASMUSEUM WERTHEIM's Glass Bead Cabinet is also a highlight. Along an imaginary string of beads, colorful "glass beads" tell of their cultural and historical significance: burial objects, symbols of luxury and power, merchandise, means of payment, means of communication and documentation, and even unusual costume jewelry.
In the Glass Bead Cabinet, the glass bead legacy (ca. 1500 BC to 700 AD) of the Mainz scientist Thea Elisabeth Haevernick (1899 - 1982) is exhibited and supplemented by the long history of the glass bead with her own glass beads.
Paperweight cabinet
Collector and car enthusiast Peter von Brackel has put together a selection of 600 glass paperweights for the GLASMUSEUM WERTHEIM - arranged and presented according to production period, glassworks, techniques, motifs and special shapes.
Big House
Glass from A to Z
The more than 3000-year-old history of glass as a material in just one exhibition - that's something you can only find here in the Wertheim Glass Museum. You can take a look at each letter of the exhibition online.
Treasures made of glass
50 precious glass objects exemplify the development of glass and advances in glass technology from antiquity to the present day.
Alois Wienand Collection
You are standing in the middle of a sample collection with 75 replicas of historical glasses, which the former glassmaker from the Wertheim glassworks has produced using the techniques he researched and experimentally (re)developed from the Middle Ages and early modern times, based on originals, reconstruction drawings and book originals. Celtic glass arm rings are a special feature.
Small house
Glass Bead Cabinet
The "Glass Bead Cabinet" provides an insight into the development of the first glass objects and their role in mythology, religion, as trade or fashion objects. The scientifically valuable and well-known glass bead collection of the Mainz scientist Thea Elisabeth Hävernick and the glass bead collection of the Glass Museum illustrate the great craftsmanship with which even the early advanced civilisations created true masterpieces of glass.
Scientific Glass Cabinet
The "Scientific Glass Cabinet shows the development of glass as an instrument for research and science and as an indispensable material for industry. The didactic presentation of the exhibits (including barometers, cobbler's balls, light bulbs, lenses) is aimed primarily at young people in order to promote their interest in science and technology.
Paperweights
The "Paperweight Cabinet with more than 600 glass paperweights from the collection of Peter von Brackels from Bad Honnef shows paperweights from the period of late Biedermeier, Historicism, Art Nouveau, Art Deco up to modern times, as they were produced in Germany, Bohemia, Silesia, Belgium, Italy, France and other European countries. On display are very rare so-called "classical" paperweights from the period from 1840/42 to around 1860/70 ("millefiori", sulphide, lamp glass paperweights"), the "early post-classical" period from around 1870/80 to around 1905/10 ("folk art" or "work break" paperweights", the "other post-classical" period from around 1880/90 to 1945 as well as collectors' items from today.
Big House
Glass from A to Z
Wertheim experienced an enormous economic upswing in the 1950s. The reason for this was the specialization in the glass industry, which still exists today, with the production and further processing of technical laboratory glass. The founding of the "Glaswerk Wertheim" in 1949 was an important milestone. Five glass entrepreneurs from Thuringia thus secured their source of raw materials: Rudolf Brand, Dr. Fritz Friedrichs, Josef Friedrichs, Dr. Hans Löber and Carl Zitzmann. Today, Wertheim is the second largest center of the German laboratory glass industry after Mainz and before Ilmenau in Thuringia. An impressive collection of how glass is used in industry is given by the exhibition "Glass from A to Z" on the second floor.
Playstation course: For children
Play station course with 35 glass play stations as an interactive presentation based on the model of the Federal Association of German Children's and Youth Museums, in which not only children and young people can 'grasp' the many facets of glass as a material in a playful way.
Here you will find all the information about our loanable hands-on exhibition "Energy Trail - All Energy Comes from the Sun?" with 30 interactive stations on the topic of energy.