The glassworks that served the English royal court

A glassblower leans forward, head tilted, hands wrapped around a long pipe. Just above the ground, the hollow form of the glass waits for his breath. This statue in Quadrath-Ichendorf is not a contemporary invention but a quiet nod to a local industry that once defined the surrounding landscape.

The sculpture was created in 1963 by the Cologne artist Gilbert Kruft. He did not simply observe this craft from a distance; Kruft was a designer for the local glassworks as early as 1954. To capture the essence of the work, he collaborated with the Cologne Vocational Schools to cast the figure, ensuring the technical details of the pipe and the posture of the craftsman were true to the trade.

The fountain serves as a memorial to the Ichendorfer Glashütte, a glassworks that operated with various interruptions from 1898 until 1986. During its long life, the works achieved a reputation for quality that traveled far beyond the local borders of Bergheim. It was not merely a regional success; the glass produced here was refined enough to serve the English royal court.

Time has altered the setting around the monument. In 2012, the fountain underwent a significant redesign. The original layout was stripped away, leaving only the statue on its trapezoidal pedestal as a relic of the previous era. The water began to flow again on September 20, 2012, reintegrating the monument into a newer public space.

Today, the fountain remains a listed heritage monument, numbered 129 in the local records. It stands as a stationary observer of the history of the Ichendorfer Glashütte, holding the memory of the glass in its frozen, metallic hands.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons