The Kannenbäckerland (; 'potters' land', ) is a

cultural landscape Cultural landscape is a term used in the fields of geography, ecology, and heritage studies, to describe a symbiosis of human activity and environment. As defined by the World Heritage Committee, it is the "cultural properties hatrepresent the c ...

in central

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 ...

, which extends from Wirges in the

Westerwald The Westerwald (; literally 'Western forest') is a low mountain range on the right bank of the river Rhine in the States of Germany, German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a part of the Rhenish Ma ...

hills to

Bendorf Bendorf () is a town in the district of Mayen-Koblenz, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the right bank of the Rhine, approx. north of Koblenz. Structure of the town The town consists of the following districts: *Bendorf *Sayn *Mülhofen *St ...

and

Vallendar Vallendar () is a town in the district Mayen-Koblenz, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, approx. 4 km north-east of Koblenz. Vallendar is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipa ...

in the

Middle Rhine Middle Rhine (, ; kilometres 529 to 660 of the Rhine) is the section of the Rhine between Bingen and Bonn in Germany. It flows through the Rhine Gorge (), a formation created by erosion, which happened at about the same rate as an uplift i ...

valley. The Kannenbäckerland owes its name to the fact that, in this region, the largest

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

deposit in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

was found and, since the 16th century, has been used to make the well-known grey and blue Westerwald Pottery.

Formation

In addition to pot making and, especially in Hilgert pipe making for the production of the clay, tobacco pipes which were once common, pottery craftsmanship and training have also been concentrated in the Kannenbäckerland. Since 1879,

Höhr-Grenzhausen Höhr-Grenzhausen () is a town in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a centre for the ceramic industry in the Kannenbäckerland with a professional college for ceramics, another for ceramic form, and many others, hence th ...

has been home to the College of Ceramics, which later became part of the Ceramics Department of the

Koblenz University of Applied Sciences Koblenz University of Applied Sciences (German: Hochschule Koblenz, formerly known as Fachhochschule Koblenz or FH Koblenz) is a public university in Rhineland-Palatinate. Although the present university was established in 1996, it has a rich trad ...

. Its training comprises eight terms and it awards a diploma in materials engineering, glass and ceramics. In addition to the University of Applied Sciences, six other specialist institutions joined forces in the Education and Research Centre for Ceramics (BFZK) and offer a competence network for ceramics that is unique in the world. This also led to the organization of the special exhibition "Ceramics - Material of the Future" at the World Exhibition for

Expo 2000 Expo 2000 was a World Expo held in Hanover, Germany from 1 June to 31 October 2000. It was located on the Hanover Fairground (Messegelände Hannover), which is the largest exhibition ground in the world. Initially, some 40 million people were ...

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

, which was organized by the BFZK. The BFZK includes, among others, the new business centre of CeraTech for ceramic technologies and materials, the Glass and Ceramics Research Institute, the Institute for Artistic Ceramics and Glass, various educational institutions and, of course, the Westerwald Pottery Museum.

Locations

The main sites of the clay industry developed from the main extraction areas near Wirges and down to the Rhine. Clay was extracted in Wirges, worked in the western districts of

and Ransbach-Baumbach and stored on the Rhine near

and

for transportation to the markets. Other well known sites in the Kannenbäckerland are Bannberscheid, Ebernhahn, Hillscheid, Hilgert, Hundsdorf, Leuterod, Mogendorf, Moschheim, Nauort, Ötzingen, Sessenbach, Siershahn and Staudt.

History

The Kannenbäckerland was described as such in the late 18th century, although the records show that pottery had been continuously made here since at least 1402. The surrounding regions and areas referred to the occupation of potter (normally ''Töpfer'' in German) either as ''Dippemacher'' (in Hessian) ''Döppesbäcker'' (in the area of Cologne) or ''Töpfer'' and ''Hafner'' (in the Palatine dialect). They were only called ''Kannenbäcker'' (or ''Kannebäcker'') in a relatively small area south of Cologne and in the southern Westerwald. Traditionally the "Kannebäckerland" supplied the Frankfurt region upstream on the Rhine with

Apfelwein ''Apfelwein'' (; ), or ''Viez'' (, Moselfranken, Saarland, Trier; ) or ''Most'' (, Austria, Switzerland, South Germany; ) are German words for cider. It is made from various kinds of sour tasting apples (such as "Bohnapfel"). It has an alcoho ...

''Bembel'', a grey earthenware jug with bule decoration for serving apple cider. Down the Rhine in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, clay pots in the classic blue décor were known as ''Keulse pot'' ("Cologne Pots"). :nl:Keulse pot The Mosellen vintners, when working in the vineyard, had their daily wine or ''Fluppes'' ration in brown ''Bimmes'' (see photograph).

Tourism

Due to its location between the

valley in the west and the

in the east, the Rhine-Westerwald Nature Park in the north and the Nassau Nature Park in the south, the Kannenbäckerland is a very good destination for active holidaymakers. Numerous footpaths and trails, such as the Brexbach Gorge Way ("Wäller Tour") and the geo trail near Nauort, a large

Nordic walking Nordic walking is a Finland, Finnish-origin total-body version of walking that can be done both by non-athletes as a health-promoting physical activity and by athletes as a sport. The activity is performed with specially designed walking poles sim ...

park and well-surfaced cycleways run through the region. Among the most popular destinations in the Kannenbäckerland are the castle of Schloss Sayn with its butterfly garden in two breeding houses, the Brexbach valley, der Limes Tower and the Roman fortlet in Hillscheid, the Westerwald Pottery Museum, and the annual ''Europ'' pottery markets in Höhr-Grenzhausen and Ransbach-Baumbach.

Footnotes and references

Literature

* Ulrich Fliess: ''Volkskundliche Abteilung.'' Exhibition catalogue of the

Historisches Museum Hannover () is an historical museum situated in Hanover, the capital of Lower Saxony, Germany. The museum was founded in 1903 as the Homeland Museum of the City of Hanover (). Its collections are related to the Timeline of Hanover, history of the city, ...

, 1972. pp. 99–102: „Westerwälder Steinzeug“ und „Wandvitrine 142“ nebst Tafel 15.

External links

Documentation centre, Kannenbäckerland
Regions of Rhineland-Palatinate Regions of the Westerwald Cultural landscapes of Germany Westerwaldkreis Mayen-Koblenz Stoneware {{coord, 50, 29, 52, N, 7, 45, 40, E, region:DE-RP_dim:30000_type:landmark, display=title