PREFACE 
When an international glass congress took place in Vienna in 1991, an exhibition at the 
Technical Museum and the rediscovery of one of the most important glass collections in the 
world were connected with it. The lifted treasure generated a great deal of excitement and 
the congress’s specialized audience declared the visit to the exhibition the high point of the 
eventful week. Entrusted with the scientific concept of the presentation, I was able to fulfill 
a long cherished wish. Close work with treasures of glass has provided fascinating insights 
into the world of glass and has suggested even wider horizons of scientific research. Mean- 
while, two years have passed. Quick and unconventionai decisions made by all the in- 
stitutions concerned (the Federal Ministry of Sciences and Research, the Ministry for Eco 
nomic Affairs, the Vienna Technical Museum, the University Archive of the Vienna Technical 
University, the Marchfeld Castles Society) led to the present fortunate Situation that makes 
it possible for a series of exhibitions to be mounted at Niederweiden Castle in the Marchfeld 
(Lower Austria). 
In the summer of 1993, the theme “Magic Color - Color Magic" will be shown. Planning for 
1994 places the fascinating subject, “Glass Jewelry - Beads, Rings, Ear-Pendants” at the 
center of attention. 
A two-volume publication will be devoted to color glass. It will treat glass from the early Bie 
dermeier period into Art Deco. One of the most remarkable aspects is the fact that the pro- 
venance and the dates of most of the objects that come from the Austrian-Hungarian Mon- 
archy and even from other European and non-European countries are assured. 
There was a deliberate omission of decorated glass in this publication, with few exceptions. 
In modification of the weil known motto, “Shape without Ornament,” one could also speak 
of “Color without Ornament.” The modernity of the selected objects is astonishing in any 
case. 
In the “Cabinet of Factory Products” of the Biedermeier period, glass was well represented 
from the very beginning, whether in the collection of Franz I, the “Cabinet of Factory Pro 
ducts” at the Imperial Polytechnical Institute and the later so-called “Technical Cabinet” 
(into which the collection of Crown Prince Ferdinand was encorporated) or the collection 
put together by Stephan von Keess. A great variety of materials were treated in a quantity 
almost impossible for us to imagine today and a quality that was in no respect inferior. The 
vicissitudes of fate allowed a fraction of these collections to survive into our day and to be 
preserved in the Technical Museum in Vienna (a contribution by Hellmut O. Janetschek in 
the booklet on the Niederweiden exhibitions deals with these “cabinets” in detail). Shortly 
after the founding of the Technical Museum in the early 20th Century the collection was ex- 
panded with excellent examples of Contemporary glass technology. 
My gratitude for making the publication and the exhibition possible extends to 
- the Technical Museum Vienna and all its employees who made the necessary work pos 
sible despite the difficult phase of evacuating the museum for renovation at the same 
time 
- Alfred Lechner, founder of the University Archive of the Vienna Technical University 
- Erich Jiresch, head of the University Archive of the Vienna Technical University, Juliane 
Mikoletzky and Johann Axnix 
- Fritz Kaltenbrunner and Alfons Pessl, who with untiring effort and a great sense of res- 
ponsibility put their knowledge to the test in dealing with these fragile objects; in addi- 
tion I would like to thank Fritz Kaltenbrunner for his willingness to take on the strenuous 
task of proofreading this book 
- Prof. Ludwig Neustifter for designing the dust jacket and binding for this publication 
- all those who were involved in preparations for the exhibition, especiaily the Marchfeld 
Castles Association, its President Minister Werner Fasslabend and his assistants (in 
Charge of the exhibition at the venue: Brigitte Urban) and Joschko A. Buxbaum. 
One of the most difficult tasks to master went to Ann Dubsky: presenting the results of 
scientific research in the heretofore practically unpublished area of glass technology ade- 
quately in English. In meeting these exacting demands, she not only demonstrated a readi- 
ness to go into the subject matter intensively, but proved once more that even where very 
highly specialized texts are concerned, transiation can also be linguistic art. I thank her for 
this. 
Vienna, March 1993 Waltraud Neuwirth 
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