EMBOSSED INTO METAL

The Museum of Glass and Jewellery in Jablonec nad Nisou offers a unique insight into the history of traditional products from the region. The exhibition VYRAŽENO DO KOVU (Stamped into Metal) traces the fascinating development of stamped and pressed products from Jablonec, including jewellery, medals, plaques, badges and much more.

Stamping and pressing workshops have always been inextricably linked to Jablonec. The products of these specific workshops are presented from the collection of the Museum of Glass and Jewellery, as well as from other public institutions and several private collections. Among them are production equipment and tools, semi-finished products and finished products. For the first time, badges, medals and decorations from World War II made by Jablonec manufacturers are on display here on a large scale. Visitors will be able to see original presses, metal engraving tools, cases for military ID cards from World War I, as well as the process of producing medals and photographs of the largest press in Austria-Hungary. Visitors will learn about the products of pre-war local companies such as Franz Mänert, Gebrüder Jäger, Josef Feix Söhne, Josef Scheibler, Heinrich Brditschka and many others, recall the range of products offered by Bižuterie, Silka and the cooperatives Nisasport, Javoz and Maják, and see the production of contemporary stamping and pressing workshops in the region.

The aim of the exhibition VYRAŽENO DO KOVU (Stamped in Metal) is also to present the work of important Jablonec craftsmen: metalworkers and engravers. Curator Kateřina Nora Nováková drew on extensive museum collections, archival materials, company publications and eyewitness accounts in preparing the exhibition. "Dealing with such a broad topic required demanding research work, including mapping the preserved workshops and historical machinery," adds the curator. However, as part of the project, she also focused on the specifics of the region, where individual factories gradually carried out orders from the original German founders, socialist enterprises, cooperatives and current private companies. "The exhibition comprehensively shows that Jablonec's metal stamping and pressing production has much deeper roots and greater significance. These products have been and continue to be an integral part of our cultural history," emphasises museum director Milada Valečková.

The exhibition's scenography takes visitors into a workshop environment, where they can sit down at a metal engraving table from the Jablonec School of Applied Arts, which is at least a hundred years old. "They can try their hand at metal engraving or pressing on an old pre-war press and take home a unique stamp with the exhibition motif," says exhibition scenographer Miroslav Janda, himself a trained metal engraver. The entire tour is accompanied by a quiz, and those who complete it correctly will receive a token designed by Katka Novotná, a student at the local SUPŠ and VOŠ, and stamped by the Jablonec-based company Lucid.

The exhibition VYRAŽENO DO KOVU (Stamped in Metal) is being held at the Museum of Glass and Jewellery in Jablonec nad Nisou until April 2026. A publication of the same name has also been published, and for those interested in the topic, a professional conference will be held on 3 November, for which registration is open until the end of October on the museum's website.

Museum partners: Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Liberec Region, Statutory City of Jablonec nad Nisou, Preciosa Foundation, Crystal Valley, Friends of the Museum of Glass and Jewellery in Jablonec nad Nisou, Český rozhlas Liberec, RTM plus