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Over 300 years of tradition and at the same time highly up-to-date: porcelain is more aesthetically pleasing than almost any other product. It reveals much about the way of life at different times and about its dining and food culture. All these fascinating aspects are presented with a great deal of knowledge and passion at the two locations of the Porzellanikon - Staatliches Museum für Porzellan.

Useful and beautiful
In the main building of the Porzellanikon, Hohenberg an der Eger, the visitor embarks on the path of the history of German porcelain from the beginning of the 18th century to the political turnaround in 1989. The presentation ties in with the history of this former entrepreneurial mansion, belonging to the porcelain factory C. M. Hutschenreuther, incidentally the first in North-Eastern Bavaria.

Not only the beautiful pieces in the showcases of the museum are inspiring. Recreated scenes provide an insight into the cultural history of the products, while audio-visual and interactive media invite visitors to marvel and experience more. Porcelain is a lifestyle that combines usefulness and beauty.

Indispensable and innovative
We encounter porcelain every day: we drink coffee or tea from cups and mugs, eat a full meal or even just a snack from small or large, round or square plates. It is rather unknown how the beautiful and useful things from which we drink and from which we eat come into being. The effort involved in the production process of porcelain from the raw materials to the finished decorated piece can be understood and experienced at the Porzellanikon in Selb, the second location of Europe's largest special museum for porcelain. Here, visitors be hands on and experience the material up close and personal - whether children or young people, families or senior citizens. This also includes a look at the social conditions that have shaped porcelain-producing towns throughout Europe. Interactive stations unobtrusively reveal details, videos let people have their say.

Anyone wishing to take a journey through the history of the last 25 years, will also be drawn to Selb, where, in addition to the industrial production, the subject of "design" is emphasised, on the one hand in the "Best of Design" section and on the other hand for the entire period of the company's history since 1879 in the Rosenthal department. The permanent exhibition is complemented by changing special exhibitions on lifestyle, art and design in the past, present and future. The museum is constantly reinventing itself.

Porcelain is much more than just a plate, cup and decorative article. Porcelain and the technical ceramics that have evolved from it are indispensable for everyday life, highly innovative, but always in the background: porcelain is used to make insulators for power lines over land, technical ceramics slow down the fastest speedsters, prove their worth as tap seals every day and withstand the toughest loads, for example as knee or hip joints. The Porzellanikon shows all of this in a unique way.

Experience the museum live
Visit Porzellanikon at both locations right in the middle of what still is the most important porcelain region in Europe today: North-East Bavaria. Whether in Hohenberg an der Eger or Selb: both buildings embody the tradition of this industry in an ideal way: mansion and factory.