Medieval and Early Modern Utility Glass in Denmark

From 2010 to 2016, the Museum of Copenhagen undertook excavations in the city’s center in preparation for the new Metro Cityring. These excavations produced enormous quantities of finds, including thousands of glass fragments that provide an overview of utility glass used in medieval and early modern Copenhagen. The foreign imports were remarkable, but the “domestic” glass industries were also important. This article discusses the glass remains from the Gammel Strand, the center of the harbor area from 1400 to 1800, as well as from Rådhuspladsen, located at the western gateway of the medieval and early modern city. The oldest glass finds consisted of fragments of imported Bohemian and German beakers, followed by glass manufactured in the Danish realm in the mid- 16th century. Most of the forms were in accord with international design, but there were some peculiarities too. This may be due to the complicated history of Danish glass production, which at times was centered in what is now part of Germany, Norway, or Sweden. The finds from Gammel Strand illustrate a threecentury tradition of “Danish” utility glass before the establishment of Holmegaard Glassworks in 1825. They reveal how the Danish glass made in Jutland and Scania, and perhaps also Zealand, was used in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, in Holstein in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and in Norway from the beginning to the middle of the 18th century.