THE WORLD OF FANTASY

An exhibition of glass Christmas decorations in the new visitor storage facility.

On 23 October, the State Museum of Glass and Jewellery in Jablonec nad Nisou will open the exhibition ‘WORLD OF FANTASY’ in its new visitor gallery housing glass Christmas decorations. Visitors to the museum will now be able to see nearly nine thousand of these fragile exhibits from the collection, which is the largest in the world. A comprehensive specialist publication is also being released to accompany the exhibition.
The museum has been dedicated to the collection, presentation, scholarly study and popularisation of glass Christmas baubles since 2008, when it received a donation of the Jablonex Group’s sample collection. Through targeted acquisitions, the collection has expanded to include both historical and contemporary items and, with more than 25,000 individual pieces, is currently the world’s largest public collection of this kind.
In 2022, the museum opened a permanent exhibition entitled ‘The World of Wonders’, with its imaginative scenography created by designer Jakub Berdych Karpelis.
“Both in name and in concept, it ties in directly with the exhibition ‘World of Fantasy’, which also marks the opening of our first visitor storage facility,” said
the museum’s director
,
Milada Valečková. The architectural design is the work of the Jablonec-based studio Atelier 4.
Whilst in the original exhibition the artefacts are presented in narrative sections, the display area offers a dizzying array of colourful and decorative variations, including different types. Also on display are ornaments made from blown beads and glass seed beads, which were produced in the Jablonec region in the late 1920s, historical German blown ornaments, and a timeline illustrating their typical design from the 1930s onwards
.
Replicas of the exhibits for the museum were produced by a manufacturing co-operative from Dvůr Králové nad Labem, the direct successor to the firm founded in 1931.
“Also certainly worth noting is the princess’s carriage, which was crafted from blown beads by Rautis of Poniklá based on a historical model; today, they are the only manufacturer of this type of ornament in the world
,
”
said the exhibition’s curator, Dagmar Havlíčková.
The production of Christmas decorations made from hollow beads, and subsequently from blown beads, became part of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2020 and 2023.
“Our museum played a part in preparing the second nomination and is now the national guarantor of measures for their preservation. That is why, in 2023 and 2026, we organised international symposia that brought together new designers and manufacturers. We are exhibiting the results of their collaboration in the ‘World of Wonders’ exhibition,”
said Valečková.
A comprehensive specialist publication in Czech and English has also been produced to accompany the exhibition. It includes chapters devoted to the origins of the modern Christmas and its symbols, including Father Christmas.
“The main theme, of course, is glass Christmas baubles and their stories in the main production and consumer markets, including a detailed account of the development of Czech baubles from their beginnings to the present day. These new findings are based on a rigorous study of numerous archival, published and digitised sources,”
said the author and the museum’s chief curator, Petr Nový. The exhibition and publication were produced as part of the institutional support for science and research provided by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.
The grand opening of the visitor’s gallery housing the ‘World of Fantasy’ exhibition will take place on 22 October and forms part of the nationwide ‘Glassmakers’ Week’ project, which is coordinated by the State Museum of Glass and Costume Jewellery in Jablonec nad Nisou. Several themed accompanying events will also take place throughout the week; an overview of these can be found on the museum’s website.