The Carinthian Regional Museum is the guardian of the
heritage of the twelve municipalities composing the region of Carinthia. Its collections
also hold glass objects serving different purposes and originating from different
periods. The most noteworthy are drinking glass vessels from the Soklič
Collection and apothecary glassware that was once used by the regional pharmacy
Koroška Lekarna.
The Soklič
Collection, established by the parish priest Jakob Soklič (1893–1972), was
entrusted to the management of the Carinthian Regional
Museum, Slovenj Gradec Museum, in 2013. It comprises about 2,000 museum
items from various professional fields, including over 400 ethnological objects,
forty-eight of which are made of glass. The majority of glass objects
constitute drinking vessels, especially glasses and bottles. Most date to the
nineteenth century, and a few specimens to the eighteenth and twentieth
century, respectively. Their shapes and method of production are typical of the
Pohorje or, rather, Styrian glass. Several glass objects from the Soklič
Collection are part of the Carinthian Regional Museum’s permanent exhibition.
The first
glassworks in Styria was founded in the seventeenth century in the Carthusian
Monastery in Žiče and may be classified as a forest glassworks because it fuelled
its furnace with wood from the Pohorje forests. In and around the Pohorje
Mountains, glassworks or glass-huts (from the German word Glashütte) remained
in operation until the early twentieth century. They produced forest glass
(Waldglas) with natural green, yellow, or blue tints, as well as quality transparent
and coloured glass. The longest-operating glassworks in the Pohorje Mountains
was at Josipdol. The village now houses a museum collection presenting the
history of the glassworks from its founding in 1799 to its collapse in 1909, and
the history of the quarry, which opened in 1885. The display cabinets feature
products from the Josipdol glassworks, including several glasses and vases from
the Soklič Collection. The collection is under the expert supervision of the Carinthian
Regional Museum.
The glassworks in
Žiče and later other such establishments in the Pohorje Mountains also produced
apothecary glassware of various purpose-adapted shapes. Given its resistance to
acids and because it does not absorb any smell or flavour, glass represents an especially
appropriate material for storing liquid and powder medicines. The preserved
apothecary bottles made of the Pohorje glass have various shapes and sizes;
most are made of transparent colourless as well as cobalt-blue or brown glass. There
are square, oval, and round bottles with variably wide necks. For a long time, the
bottles were closed with wooden or cork caps, and eventually with glass tops.
The apothecary inventory was well defined and changed little over time.
In the 1990s, the public
enterprise Koroška Lekarna donated its collection of apothecary equipment to the
Carinthian Regional Museum, Ravne na Koroškem Museum. The fond comprises about
800 different apothecary objects, including 265 glass objects. The already
machine manufactured apothecary glass stands are made of polished glass.
Apothecary bottles have various shapes and sizes, some also bear a polished
signature. The equipment of Koroška Lekarna dates to the early twentieth
century, and it remained in use until the 1970s, when pharmacies underwent a
thorough overhaul. Modern pharmacies no longer use apothecary bottles and display
stands, which once gave them a special charm. The apothecary glass from Koroška
Lekarna is kept in the museum depot.
Andreja
Šipek