The Fürstenberg China Factory () was founded on 11 January 1747 in Fürstenberg, on the

Weser The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports o ...

river, by Johann Georg von Langen at the direction of Duke Charles I of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. It is the second-oldest

porcelain Porcelain (), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating Industrial mineral, raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to oth ...

manufacturer in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

that still operates on its original site. From 1888, the operation was turned into a public limited company (''

Aktiengesellschaft (; abbreviated AG ) is a German language, German word for a corporation limited by Share (finance), share ownership (i.e., one which is owned by its shareholders) whose shares may be traded on a stock market. The term is used in Germany, Austria ...

''). In 1966, the firm became a limited liability company (''

GmbH (; ) is a type of Juridical person, legal entity in German-speaking countries. It is equivalent to a (Sàrl) in the Romandy, French-speaking region of Switzerland and to a (Sagl) in the Ticino, Italian-speaking region of Switzerland. It is a ...

'') with its parent company, ''Braunschweig GmbH'', and therefore a 100 per cent subsidiary of

NORD/LB The Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (abbreviated NORD/LB) is a German Landesbank and one of the largest commercial banks in Germany. It is a public corporation majority-owned by the States of Germany, federal states of Lower Saxony and Saxony ...

. Its current managing director is Stephanie Saalfeld.

Museum

The

Weser Renaissance Weser Renaissance is a form of Northern Renaissance architectural style that is found in the area around the River Weser in central Germany and which has been well preserved in the towns and cities of the region. Background Between the star ...

-style castle, high above the

river, traces its history back to a medieval castle built in the first half of the 14th century (first mentioned around 1355), and was converted into a hunting lodge around 1600 by Duke

Henry Julius of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Henry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters * Henry (surname) * Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone Arts and entertainment ...

. Until 1972, china was produced in the castle itself, but now, manufacturing is carried out in the adjacent, modern buildings. Today, the castle houses the firm's

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

and gives an overview of production from its beginnings during the

rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

period to the present day. Other notable collections of Fürstenberg china may be seen in the

North German Northern Germany (, ) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony and the two city-states Hambur ...

museums at Brunswick,

Schwerin Schwerin (; Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch dialect, Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch Low German: ''Swerin''; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Zwierzyn''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Germ ...

and

Wolfenbüttel Wolfenbüttel (; ) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel District Wolfenbüttel (; ) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel (district), Wolfenbüttel Distri ...

, as well as in

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

Notes

Sources

* Karin Annette Möller: ''Porzellan aus Fürstenberg'', Katalog, Schwerin 2002, * Beatrix Freifrau Wolff Metternich u.a.: ''Die Porzellanmanufaktur Fürstenberg'', 2 Bände, Prestel-Verlag, 2004

External links

Official website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Furstenberg China German porcelain Museums in Lower Saxony Porzellanmanufaktur Furstenberg Holzminden (district) Ceramics manufacturers of Germany Ceramics museums in Germany

Museum

See also

Notes

Sources

External links