Olomučany POTTERY Obsah Front page Images from Moravian Switzerland Museum of Blansko Region Moravian Karst Cave divers The earliest record of the history of the factory, where ceramics from Olomučany were produced, dates back to 1849. In the following year, he and Peter Eugen Selbe purchased house No. 37, which became a ceramics workshop. The real development of the ceramics business is only linked to the Schütz family, who owned a paper mill in Březová nad Svitavou. Father Karel and son Ludvík are named in the purchase contract of 1852, whereas Ludvík's brother Arnold was not named until seven years later, when they formed a company registered in the commercial register under the name "Gebrüder Schütz". At this time, the factory produced utilitarian ceramics and is also said to have started producing tile stoves. However, the domestic raw materials were not sufficient for the increased demands, so the owners bought a mine in Blšany in Žatecko and in 1871, after establishing a second factory in Libojje near Celje in Styria (now Slovenia), began to import clay from there as well. A joint art studio was set up in Vienna for both factories, where individual professors of the newly established School of Applied Arts prepared designs and models of ceramic products and where selected exclusive pieces were directly decorated. The boom period of this important Austrian enterprise, which consisted of both factories, was replaced by a decline, caused mainly by competition from better quality and cheaper porcelain. In 1898, Arnold Schütz handed over the Olomouc factory to his son-in-law Wilhelm Julink and his daughter Franziska, who were forced for financial reasons to take on partners Alfred Basch and Emil Mandl, and in 1904 Oskar Basch, who eventually acquired the entire business. As a result of financial problems, the production of fine ceramics in Olomouc was finally stopped in 1909. In the relatively short time of its existence, the factory produced a huge number of ceramic objects that are still collector's artifacts today. Henry Wankel Czechoslovak Lion History of the chateau Hugo Franz Old Count Salm Olomučany pottery Archeology Treasure of silver coins The Mystery of "Býčí Skálal" Cave Princess of "Býčí Skála" Cave Funeral carriage Blansko artistic cast iron Karl Ludwig von Reichenbach