Tettau: Glass History and Border Remembrance

Glass and the trades at the Flakonglas Museum

The European Flakonglas Museum displays hundreds of glass exhibits and several tools. Printed and multimedia information provides insights into glass and the trades at glassworks in the past and today. This offers two ways to explore the subject: you can view the pieces on display while also learning about the craft and the trades associated with it. The focus is therefore not only on glass as a material, but also on work in the glassworks. The perspective spanning the past to the present makes questions about the trades a distinct part of the exhibition.

The museum and the memorial offer different emphases to help you choose your holiday interests: one focuses on glass, tools and craftsmanship, the other on a particular border history. Consider which of these cultural themes you would like to shape your discoveries in Tettau.

Border history in Kleintettau

The border memorial in Kleintettau recalls the unusual border situation, which ran directly along Klein Lichtenhain in the former GDR until 1 May 1976. Residents of the eastern area applied for identity cards in the West and were eligible to vote there. This unusual situation became known as the “Miracle of Kleintettau.” The Tettau market municipality erected the memorial in 2019 so that the history of this border situation would not be forgotten.

The identity cards and the right to vote mentioned here make clear what made this history unusual: it concerns not only a border line, but also the civic status of people who lived in the eastern area. The memorial provides a specific place of remembrance for this in Kleintettau. Alongside the glass museum, it offers another perspective on the town’s cultural history, this time through its political past rather than through materials and craftsmanship.

Landscape and culture in the wider travel destination of Kronach

Kronach is another travel context, explicitly on a wider scale. The larger northeastern part of the district of Kronach extends into the Franconian Forest, a densely wooded upland range with gently rounded hills, many valleys and elevations of about 500 to just over 700 metres. The rest of the district lies in the northern part of the Upper Main Hills. This area slopes down southwest from the Franconian Forest to about 300 to 500 metres and features escarpments and terraces. The comparison describes two different landscapes in the Kronach travel destination: wooded heights and valleys on the one hand, and hilly terrain with a varied relief on the other. Most of the district lies in the Rodach catchment area and that of its tributaries, which flow southwest towards the upper Main.

The cultural attractions in the wider travel destination of Kronach also offer different historical perspectives. Rosenberg Fortress brings together medieval, Renaissance and Baroque military architecture. The oldest surviving document to mention the name “Rosenberg” dates from 1249. The Franconian Gallery presents 220 masterpieces of painting and sculpture from the Late Gothic and Renaissance periods in Franconia across 1,000 square metres of exhibition space. In Kronach, military architecture and artworks from different periods are therefore distinct themes to consider when planning your trip.

Hiking trails and a historic railway in the Kronach travel destination

For active days in the wider travel destination of Kronach, two FrankenwaldSteigla trails can be compared by length and difficulty: “Entlang der Marter” is a moderately difficult 14.7-kilometre hiking trail in Kronach. The “Ködeltour” in Steinwiesen is 17.1 kilometres long and rated very difficult. These details make it easier to choose between the two hikes described; check current trail conditions before setting off. The Rennsteig route through the Thuringian and Franconian Forests runs for 18 kilometres through the district of Kronach.

The Rodachtal Railway offers another way to discover the wider travel destination of Kronach: it runs with a historic locomotive and historic carriages from Steinwiesen to Nordhalben. Check operating days before your trip. The hiking trails and historic railway offer different experiences—walking along a marked route or travelling in historic rolling stock. This lets you choose the activities that best suit your travel plans.

Discover more destinations: Steinwiesen, Ludwigsstadt, Marktrodach, Mitwitz, Wilhelmsthal, Pressig, Nordhalben, Teuschnitz.

See the wider travel overview: Kronach.