Glasses with history

GORINCHEM – The window of the Galerie Joke van Lieshout currently features a row of glasses that originate from the excavations at the Barracks Square. Actually more or less to fill the empty window, because the gallery is in the middle of a renovation. But it is worth diving a little deeper into the history of those glasses, because they tell about several centuries of Gorcum's past.

City archaeologist Martin Veen points out the glasses. “Look, this glass here on the far right is a goblet glass. That is about the youngest glass here, it dates from around 1700. The rest are all older. In the middle is a berkenmeier, that name probably comes from its wooden predecessor, a drinking cup that was made of birch wood. Next to it is a roemer, one of the more well-known types of glasses. The shape of this glass is derived from the berkenmeier. You can see that they both have knobs, that was not only for decoration, but also for a good grip. In the seventeenth century there were no forks on the table, people mainly used their hands to eat with. And of course they got quite greasy. The knobs prevented the glass from slipping out of your hand. To the right of the berkenmeier is a beer glass from that time. And finally, this glass here on the far left is a so-called knobbelbeker. The fact that it is made of blue glass is special, because blue glass was very expensive at the time. It contains cobalt, and that was an expensive ingredient.”

cesspool

The glasses all come from the excavation on the Kazerneplein, which took place in 1997. The Gorcum archaeologists seized their chance when the square was opened up for the new construction. They already knew from archives that there had been a house there where several wealthy families had lived and they hoped to be able to expose the foundations of that house during the excavations. To their surprise, they also came across a cesspit, the waste heap of that time. A golden find for archaeologists, because such a cesspit often contains whole mountains of utensils. And in Gorinchem too, a treasure trove of finds emerged from the ground. Countless objects such as buttons, beads, miniature objects that may have come from a doll's house and much more. And therefore also countless glass shards. Veen: “We were very careful with those glass fragments, we sifted all the soil carefully. That way we got every shard of glass out of the ground. We had a big pile, which was packed in crates until the investigation could begin.”

Pagan chore

It took two years before there was a good insight into the finds of the Barracks Square. The restoration of the glasses was a hell of a job: “A kind of three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle,” Veen explains. All those pieces had to be sorted and then we had to look at how the glasses were put together. A blue cup like the one in the gallery window wasn’t that hard to put together, there were only a few pieces of blue glass in between. But the white glasses were a big job.”

Glue

All glasses are put together by means of a syringe with a kind of glue, which is very easy to remove again. This is intended for possible later restorations, for example in case of discolouration. "The entire glass can then be taken apart and you can imagine that that will not be so easy with permanent glue", says Veen

In the Gorcum Museum more finds from the Kazerneplein can be seen. There is also glass in the display cases, as well as other utensils that were found there. In the museum you can read more about the families that lived on the Kazerneplein in the seventeenth century, but for really extensive information the internet is a good medium: on www​.arche​o​lo​gie​.myweb​.nl you can read everything about the former residents. The Archaeology Working Group can also tell you more about it, they can be reached via the city hall, Wieteke van Hulten, telephone 0183 – 659316.

Annemiek de Groot
August 7, 2001
The City of Gorinchem