A short flashback

When Sven Bauer and Karin Rühl travelled to Landau an der Isar for the first time in September 2015 to discover the Bramenkamp couple's collection of Art Nouveau glass, there was great curiosity on both sides.

Walter Bramenkamp wanted to take a close look at us first... whether it made sense to give the collection to Frauenau. Originally, he wanted to go to a large museum in Munich or Nuremberg.

And Karin Rühl was originally sceptical as to whether the collection would live up to its promise. After all, glass Art Nouveau has been her secret favourite among all things glass since her master's thesis...

When she first saw the well-stocked collection display case with a focus on objects from the Daum glassworks in Nancy, she purposefully  When the Bramenkamps' first eye fell on a very small and actually very inconspicuous object and enthusiastically identified it as a very early Gallé, it was clear to them that Frauenau would be the right place for their treasures.

The first part of the collection was brought to Frauenau in December of the same year. It was exhibited in the cabinet for the first time in 2016. It was then shown in the study collection alongside French utility glass - under the title "From mass to class: glass from Lorraine". Several years have passed since then.

After the death of Dr Hedwig Bramenkamp in 2020, the collection of his glassware in Frauenau was a particularly emotional anchor for the widower Walter Bramenkamp. He bequeathed a further collection of glassware and an exquisite collection of table and pendant lamps and, in memory of his late wife, arranged for the collection to be given a worthy place in a specially designed display case. A generous grant from a foundation bearing his name laid the foundations for the new presentation. The Munich exhibition designer Katharina Kuhlmann, warmly recommended by Regens Kulturmacher Roland Pongratz, impressed with her first draft and a promising model.

Walter Bramenkamp and the entire board of the foundation also quickly agreed to the planned special staging, which since 2022 has encased the valuable glass with architecture and thus paid tribute to Art Nouveau in an enchanting way.