Events
Broadfield House Update:
The local government has just announced that Broadfield House, in Kingswinford, the national glass museum of the Stourbridge area, will not be closed, as had been announced late last year. The museum will stay open with its unique collection in place. The English glass community is very pleased with this decision.
18th Congress of the Association Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre
Thessaloniki, Greece
21-25 September 2009
There were more than 170 attendees, from around the world, and a total of 95 papers given in concurrent sessions at the Museum of Byzantine Culture. There were also 50 posters given in two sessions. The Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki organized a special exhibit, Glass Cosmos, which included loans from a number of Greek museums.
Official Website of AIHV 18.
17th Congress of the Association Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre
The 17th Congress of the International Association for the History of Glass (AIHV) was held September 4-8, 2006 in Antwerp, Belgium, at the invitation of Verre-Glas, the Belgian National Committee of AIHV. There were 196 members registered. The Congress opened on Monday with a talk by the President, Marie-Dominique Nenna, “Fifty Years of AIHV”. Dr. Nenna also introduced Madame Joseph Philippe, the widow of the founder of AIHV, who was in attendance.
The aim of the triennial congresses of AIHV is to bring together archaeologists, art-historians, glass collectors and glass technologists, and museum curators to discuss the socio-economic and socio-cultural aspects of glass use throughout history, as well as the development of the technology of glass-making, glass working and glass decorative art throughout history. The Conference was held in the “Elzenveld” conference center, in the center of Antwerp and was also sponsored by the universities of Antwerp, Leuven and Brussels and the department of excavations of the City of Antwerp. Professor Koen Janssens, of the University of Antwerp was Chairman of the Organizing Committee.
There were 14 sessions on different aspects of glass history, each with a keynote speech and several papers, a total of 84 talks. Forty poster contributions were on display throughout the Congress. An elegant opening reception was held at the Antwerp Town Hall on Monday evening, and after the General Meeting on Tuesday afternoon, participants were invited to an organ concert at the Cathedral of Our Lady in the center of Antwerp. The Cathedral has beautiful stained glass windows. On Wednesday afternoon, there were several themed tours for attendees (one focusing on the painter, Peter Paul Rubens, another called the Golden Age of Antwerp and one to the diamond workshops, for example) followed by the Congress Dinner in the Marble Hall of the Antwerp Zoological Gardens, and on Thursday, Congress participants were invited to a preview of an exhibit of Contemporary Belgian Glass at the Kolveniershof. The meeting closed at noon on Friday, September 8 and was followed by a Post-Congress tour, September 9-13, to museums and private collections in Belgium and Luxembourg.