Coburg Glass Prize

In 1977 the first open modern glass competition in Europe was held in Coburg. This was a groundbreaking event for the Veste Coburg Art Collections. The overwhelming response to this Europe-wide competition and its crowd-pulling exhibition turned Coburg into a centre for modern art in glass overnight.

After the successful 2nd Coburg Glass Prize in 1985, the Museum of Modern Glass was created in 1989 in the gardens of Schloss Rosenau to house the greatly expanded exhibition – at that period, the first museum in Central Europe devoted exclusively to modern glass. The two Coburg Glass Prizes were of tremendous importance for East European glass art, which in Coburg gained a forum the likes of which had never previously existed. It gave many East German artists especially their first-ever chance to exhibit in the West and brought them into contact with other European artists and their works.

With the 3rd Coburg Glass Prize in 2006, all eyes on the European glass scene once again turned to Coburg. Twenty years had gone by since the previous competition, during which time glass art had radically changed. The 2006 competition and exhibition provided major international momentum. A foundation set up and largely funded by Otto Waldrich subsequently constructed a new building for the much expanded exhibition of modern glass in Schloss Rosenau gardens.

The European Museum of Modern Glass was officially opened in autumn 2008