Glassworks were established early on in the densely wooded Entlebuch. The one that produced Flühli glass began operations in 1723. At that time, the Siegwart brothers - the ancestors of the Siegwarts who later founded Glasi Hergiswil - came to the Waldemmental from the Black Forest. What drew them there were the large, barely used forests. As well as plenty of forest for burning, there was also sand for the glass and rivers for transporting the wood. With the Siegwarts, a small industrial company came to the remote, poor valley. And with it came work, trade and life. In the course of time, logging took on such enormous proportions that the mood among the people of Entlebuch changed. Around 1815, the Siegwarts began to look for a new location. A new site in Hergiswil am See made it possible to obtain wood practically and cheaply across the lake. Operations in Entlebuch, which with the advent of the railroad and steam navigation was far from all important transport links, became increasingly unprofitable. In 1869, glass was made for the last time in Entlebuch and the era of Flühli glass came to an end.
A valuable gift
Glass used to be something valuable that people liked to give as gifts on special occasions. Decorated glass bottles and drinking glasses represented wealth and generosity. The Flühli glass bottle on display in the Glacier Garden could have been a wedding present or a gift of love.
The trouvaille in the Glacier Garden is one of the many ornamental objects that the entrepreneurial women of the founding Amrein Troller family collected with great passion over the years in Central Switzerland.
Image: Clear glass with pewter screw cap. Enamel painting in red, white, blue and ochre
