Symposium

of the

Association of German Glassblowers

on the

19th and 20th of September 2003

in the German capital

Berlin.

The conference hotel "Hotel Berliner Ring" , part of the "Van der Valk" group, is on the outskirts of Berlin in Dahlewitz/Brandenburg. This hotel provides just the right atmosphere and the necessary premises for a large conference. Information in advance: www.hotel-berliner-ring.de

This year as well, the managing board of the VDG e. V. will also be organising a wide-ranging exhibition with tools and machinery applicable to glass apparatus construction.

Lectures will be given on all aspects of the subject glass and the programme will be made up by an interesting workshop with demonstrations of the newest working methods as well as conventional and despite this, always new methods.

Company tours:

The Company Osram in Berlin

The visitors will be shown manufacture of lightbulbs, high-pressure lamps, gas discharge lamps, ceramic lamps etc., as well as the field of silica glass processing for numerous special halogen lamps and also the line for silica glass on the company's own machinery.

The Company Nienburger Glas in Neuenhagen

Strength based on tradition. Flexible on principle. These make up the company motto that the company Nienburger Glas has written on their company nameplate. Here we will see one of the most modern glass factories for producing consumer glass and bottles.

Glassworks Museumsdorf in Baruther Urstromtal

Tradition since 1716 is the origin of the glass museum, glass manufacture and above all the Burger Museum. The museum village was awarded the prize for the preservation of monuments in 2001 by the Land Brandenburg.

This is just a taster at the moment of all the activities planned. No doubt one highlight or other will be added to this. Berlin offers enough opportunities for this.

Berlin also has a lot to offer for a cultural excursion, such as the Reichstag, seat of the German parliament which with its new dome is the most popular attraction in Berlin.

In close proximity is the Brandenburger Tor, the emblem of the city and Berlin's only city gate which has been preserved. In addition to this, it was symbolic for the division of the city, as it was in no-man's-land right next to the Berlin Wall.

Numerous legends and secret agent stories are built up around Checkpoint Charlie. From 1961 until 1990 the Checkpoint in Friedrichstrasse was the only border crossing. The story of the wall is also displayed in the Museum "Haus am Checkpoint Charlie".

In 1990 artists turned the East Side Gallery, the 1.3 kilometre section of the wall between Oberbaumbrucke and Ostbahnhof, into the world's largest open-air gallery.

The Potsdamer Platz is one of the most popular attractions in New Berlin. With its mixture of restaurants, shopping outlets, theatres and cinemas as well as its daring new architecture, its doesn't only attract tourists but also entices the people of Berlin to spend their time there.

You should also make sure you don't miss out Potsdam, the residential city of the Prussian Kings. A really royal inheritance is the ensemble of parks and palaces which UNESCO declared to be a world cultural heritage in 1991.