Herend

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Coordinates: 47°08′01″N 17°45′00″E / 47.13365, 17.75009
Herend
Herend Location of Herend
Country	Hungary
County	Veszprém
Area
- Total	19.53 km² (7.5 sq mi)
Population (2004)
- Total	3,569
- Density	182.74/km² (473.3/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	8440
Area code(s)	88

Herend is a small town in Hungary (Europe), near the city of Veszprém.

Most famous for its long tradition of excellent porcelain manufacturing.

The history of the town goes back into Roman times, indicated by the findings near the precincts of the town, while in the middle ages a few villages occupied the area where the current town stands. After the Ottoman Turkish administration of Hungary, the then-village was largely emptied, but the Barren of Herend was repopulated between 1764 and 1847.

[edit] The history of porcelain manufacturing at Herend

Aerial photography: Porcelain manufacturing - Herend - Hungary

It was founded in 1826 by Vince Stingl as an earthenware pottery manufacturing factory, but also he had been carrying out research experiments on porcelain making. Stingl ran out of funds and subsequently went bankrupt, his creditor Mór Fischer took control of the factory in 1839. The new owner of the manufactory, Mór Fischer, being very ambitious and having new ideas, started artistic porcelain manufacturing in the same year. At that time it was almost impossible to replace broken pieces and supply old, classical porcelain dinner-sets from the Far East and from Europe, but Mór Fischer's efforts met the support of the Hungarian aristocracy already in 1840. The artistic demand, the effort of manufacturing the first true pieces in Herend succeeded in a very short time. The First Hungarian Applied Art Exhibition, the Vienna Exhibition in 1845, the London World Exhibition in 1851, the New York World Exhibition in 1853 and the Paris World Exhibition in 1855 brought the highest appreciation for Herend respectively. This appreciation appears in the order of several royal courts (Queen Victoria, Francis Joseph I., Maximillian, Mexican emperor etc.). The name of well-known patterns refer to the first customers (Queen Victoria, Esterházy, Batthyány, Rothschild, Apponyi). 1865 Francis Joseph I. gave noble title to Mór Fischer, appreciating his results and work in porcelain art. Since 1872 Mór Fischer Farkasházy, Purveyor to the Royal Court, was entitled to use the shapes and patterns of the Manufactory of Vienna, which had closed down. That was the first golden age of Herend.

In 1874 Mór Fischer gave the management of the manufactory to his sons. After this, the level of production started to decline, due to repressing the artistic aspests. The factory had several owners, and went almost bankrupt as a result of withdrawing from the artistic aspects. Development came only at the end of the century, when the grandson of the founder, Jeno Farkasházy, became the owner of the factory. Jeno Farkasházy was a trained ceramist, who gained experience in foreign factories and wanted to follow the founder's concepts. Having excellent taste, he gave new life to traditions and in addition, introduced novelties in 1900 Paris, and 1901 St. Petersburg.

Between the two world wars, limited reproduction of traditional products, from the age of Mór Fischer, was continued. Hungarian figures were also manufactured, after the work of the best Hungarian sculptors.

From 1948 the Manufactory was nationalized and had been owned by the communist State. Since the privatisation in 1993 75% of the Porcelain Manufactory is owned by the management and the workers. The mission of the Herend Porcelain Manufactory Ltd. is to maintain its position as a profitable enterprise on the leading edge of production of hand-crafted luxury porcelain goods of outstanding quality, nurturing the history and traditions of artisanship, providing a secure, longterm workplace for our skilled employees.

It subsequently became one of the leading factories in Veszprém county.

As of 2006, the factory is profitable again and exporting to over 60 countries of the world. Its main markets are the USA, Japan, Italy and Russia.

[edit] Sights to see

The Porcelain Museum of Herend is awaiting visitors since 1964 and has been chosen as the museum of the year 2002 in Hungary.[1] (link is in Hungarian)