Keramion in Frechen celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. In all those years we still hadn’t visited this famous ceramics museum in Germany. But this summer we were in the area, so we could no longer resist the pottery sirens from Frechen.
Frechen, near Cologne, is one of the centers on the Lower Rhine where ceramics have been made since 1200. As in Raeren and the Westerwald, artisanal potters have fired “Rheinisch Steinzeug” (Rhine Stoneware) there from about 1400.
But at Keramion, the emphasis is on contemporary ceramic art. After all those historic pots, that’s exactly what we were looking for…
A potter’s wheel as a museum
The first thing you notice about the museum is the futuristic building from 1972 by Peter Neufert (1925-1999). If you look at it from a distance you will see that Keramion is a potter’s wheel.
With a centered “bowl” on top; an ideal place for contemporary ceramics.
Under the porcelain white potter’s wheel we are welcomed by a wide entrance, flanked by large Prussian blue KerAnion plates. Modern architecture that unfortunately has a slightly alienating effect, next to a highway roundabout in the middle of the industrial area of Frechen.
Once inside, you are fortunately no longer bothered by the raging car traffic. At the counter we bought an entrance ticket (please note, cash only!)
An overview of contemporary ceramics
Through the glass walls around, the room on the ground floor is flooded with light. When we visit the museum there was an overview exhibition by Beate Kuhn. In this light, her work comes into its own. And that is more than deserved!
When we descended the stairs to the next room, it turned out the “thrown bowl” on the roof of the museum was a skylight. This illuminates the round underground hall. Here we could see a selection of the participants of the “Frechener Keramikpreis”.
This ceramics prize has been awarded periodically to young ceramists since 1972. With a tour of the work of all prize winners, you will also see how contemporary ceramics have developed over the last 50 years.
Modern, but also stoneware Bearded Man jars
In an adjacent, somewhat out-of-the-way room, the historical ceramics from Frechen and Cologne are shown. A large collection of stoneware ceramics, particulary bearded man jars (called “Bellarmines” in England) from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. This is the famous Rhine stoneware of the local “kannenbäckers”.
But in this region, pottery was also made in the same period, decorated with slip. These potters were called the “düppenbäckers”. I assume that the name refers to the double baking (firing) of the work: once biscuit and then finished with a lead glaze firing.
This is in contrast to their fellow stoneware potters, who fired their work only once at a high temperature. They scooped salt into the kiln at the end of the firing. This created a salt glaze at the work.
Congratulations Keramion in Frechen!
Above ground again there is a beautiful garden at the back of the museum. There you can relax and cool off at the “children’s fountain”.
In short, if you want to have a well-spent morning or afternoon surrounded by contemporary and historical ceramics, the Keramion in Frechen is the place to go.
And we were (almost) in time to wish this ceramics museum a happy birthday: Congratulations and we will definitely visit again.
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