As early as 4,000 years ago, the first glass beads were made. Later, in ancient Rome, glass beads were made predominantly to imitate expensive jewels and in the 15th century you could trade glass beads for anything you wanted: Oil, gold, silver and even African slaves were exchanged for glass beads. And on the subject of beads and trading there was a weekend on August 26 and 27, 2006 when hobby bead artists and designers from all over Germany and the world, met in the Farbglashuette Lauscha, and the entire weekend revolved around the world of the glass bead.

The Farbglashuette Lauscha enriched the town’s cultural life with a completely extraordinary concert in December 2006. The Jena Jubilee Singers, Gospel choir from Friedrich-Schiller-University traveled to Lauscha and gave a Christmas concert right in front of the melting furnace on the third weekend of Advent.