Glass Museum, Passau

The Passau Glass Museum stands in the old town of Passau, on the Rathaus square. It occupies five floors across four joined buildings next to the Hotel Wilder Mann. The top floor alone covers an area the size of a football pitch. Georg Hoeltl founded the museum and also owns the hotel beside it. In 1985, Neil Armstrong opened the museum as guest of honour.

Inside are more than 30,000 pieces of European art glass, with 17,000 on display. The collection includes the world’s largest display of Bohemian glass from Bohemia and Silesia. These regions once supplied silica, limestone, potash and other materials for high-quality glassmaking. The museum also holds the largest collection of Johann Loetz glass, known for its bright iridescent colours.

The history of glass from 1650 to 1950 is told across 25 rooms. Exhibits cover Baroque, Empire, Biedermeier, Classicism, Historicism, Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Modern styles. Special rooms focus on the Johann Loetz workshop and Ludwig Moser & Sons. Visitors move through carefully arranged displays that show how glassmaking evolved over three centuries.