Lustrefest in Kamenický Šenov
Dearest visitors,
a unique event, the name of which was created by combining the words chandelier and festival – this is Lustrefest. We want to start a new tradition in our town, the tradition of open air festival of lighting. Every year in June we want to remind our citizens, tourists and visitors of our city the important and extremely interesting glassmaking tradition.
This year we will symbolically start the tradition of Lustrefest with the so-called zero year. Coronavirus has restricted a number of events throughout the country, and many of them have alternatively taken place on the Internet. Therefore, we also decided to move the symbolic beginning of the event to the online space. The town of Kamenický Šenov, in cooperation with the Secondary School of Glassmaking in Kamenický Šenov and the company PRECIOSA-LIGHTING, will step-by-step present a rich, almost three-hundred-year-old glassmaking tradition. You will find out more on this website. Kamenický Šenov is a town with many historical, architectural, cultural and natural attractions many of which are still waiting to be discovered. For its inhabitants, however, it mainly remains a traditional town of glass.
And what’s coming next? It has been already mentioned that we want to establish a tradition. You can look forward to Lustrefest in the year 2022. We want the event to be fully-fledged, the way it was prepared for 2020. Last year, we established a fruitful cooperation between the towns of Kamenický Šenov and the nearby German town of Weisswasser, which used to be the leader of the glass making industry in Europe. However, while glassmakers of Kamenický Šenov are still benefiting from the success of their work, the tradition in Weisswasser has already stopped. All glassworks have gradually closed down and the glorious period of glassmaking now lives only in the memory of contemporary witnesses. However, the desire to re-establish this tradition hasn´t been abandoned, and the idea of cross-border cooperation of glass cities was met with a warm acceptance of the both towns administrations.
Arts and craftsmanship have no boundaries. The Kamenický Šenov – Weisswasser partnership and their joint work on a project that has resulted in the Lustrefest festival is therefore a natural outcome of great effort to increase the promotion of the glass region. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were twice forced to postpone the entire festival project. The festival will be conducted next year in cooperation between the two towns, which will be reflected in its rich programme.
I wish you a pleasant experience at the Lustrefest festival, a beautiful late spring spent in Kamenický Šenov and life full of joy and success.
Petr David, deputy mayor
thanks:
partners:
Město Kamenický Šenov,
Střední uměleckoprůmyslová škola sklářská,
Společnost Preciosa Lighting
video:
Crystalvalley, Muzeum skla v Kamenickém Šenově (Haně Šrámkové), Nadace Proměny, Spolek sympozia rytého skla
performers:
houslový soubor Fidula, Petr Chvátal, Vlaďka Jelínková, Lucie Karlová, Pavel Kopřiva, Tereza Šváchová, Michal Třešňák, Radim Vácha
authors:
Coordinator: Klára Machová
Video: Janek Jiříček, Radek Timoftej
Photos: DMO Lužické a Žitavské hory, Jan Katzer, Radek Timoftej
Graphic design: Jana Hradcová
Web page: Radek Medal
Translation: Jana Hrůzková, Ivana Petrusová
