Expert committee and in accordance with the Statute of the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Slovakia, the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic decided to include the element “Handmade Glass Production“ submitted by the Slovak Archaeological Society at the Slovak Academy of Sciences (proposal with registration number CTLK RZNKD 2024/005) into the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Slovakia.
What a news!
Finally also glass artists are rewarded.
The Tradition of Handmade Glass Production in Slovakia
Handmade glass production in Slovakia dates back to the 9th century and has remained an integral part of the country’s cultural heritage since the 13th century. By the 18th century, over one hundred glassworks were operating across various regions, with Slovak glass being widely exported. This tradition continues today, with Slovak glass products still in high demand worldwide.
In the 20th century, professional glass schools, along with modern factories and workshops, began to emerge, further advancing the craft. One notable development came in the mid-1960s with the establishment of a glass studio at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava. This institution continues to train designers and artists for the glassmaking community, helping to shape the future of the craft.
The handmade glassmaking community today includes technologists, glass artists, and artisans who have mastered both hot and cold glassworking techniques. The process involves preparing glass batches, melting and blowing the glass at a furnace, and shaping it into beautiful pieces. Cold-working techniques such as grinding, engraving, etching, and painting are also used to refine the glass. In addition to functional and artistic glassworks, handmade glass production in Slovakia also includes the creation of traditional Christmas ornaments.
(Cited Slovak academy of science)
Worldwide, you see several artists that are working with glass. If you’re interested, look at Dale Chihuly’s art. He is one of a kind artist, his passion for the glass medium gave rise to decades of experimentation which has led the artist’s work away from tradition to elicit organic forms, push boundaries of scale to create massive architectural installations, and to study the powers of translucency and of light passing through color. This exploration has culminated in a body of work which reveals the aesthetic capacity of the material, from quiet pieces to dynamic, colorful installations that are celebrated in museums and gardens around the world.
