Marcel Zanjani / LVR-Amt für Bodendenkmalpflege im Rheinland
6th-7th November 2025
Aachen – Aken – Aix-la-Chapelle
Along the Meuse and Rhine rivers and the surrounding countryside pottery production has a long tradition going back to Roman times and even beyond. High quality
clays, large woodlands and good transport routes on the two rivers promoted an
intense production and regional or international distribution of pottery.
The different pottery workshops competed for markets, but were also in close contact with each other. They adapted new kiln technologies and copied vessel forms
and decoration patterns. At least for the post-medieval period we can get a glimpse
of these contacts between different workshops, as historic sources report of the
high mobility of potters. However, these migrations and influences did not always
run in the same direction. While in the early Middle Ages many impulses seem
to have come from northern France and Belgium to the Rhineland, potters from
Frechen and the Westerwald emigrated to Belgium or England in the 17th and 18th
centuries to set up new businesses there.
In conference speakers from France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands will give 26 papers. The topics range from Merovingian period to the 17th and 18th centuries and covers the area from Northern France to western Germany. In addition, some of the finds presented in the papers will be on display in a session on Friday morning. The registration is now open. Due to a kind grant from the Ministerium für Heimat, Kommunales, Bau und Digitalisierung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen there will be no conference fee.
Registration and Program for the Exchange2025 conference (PDF, 1,31 MB)
