Poniklá – Christmas decorations manufacture

The manufacture of bead Christmas decorations in Poniklá has had more than one hundred years of tradition. Originally, beads were used for bijou jewelry but when, in the late 19th century, the fashion of decorating of Christmas trees came to our country, poor glassmakers began to string beads and create miniature imitations of things around them. So they made very small baskets, fans, pots, airplanes, locomotives, prams, spiders, stars… all made of beads. In the 20s and 30s the bead decorations were the most popular and exported to the entire world.

If you are interested how the decorations are created, come and see. Let yourself be enchanted by old-time beauty of decorations and enormous skill of those who still manufacture them. Come for an excursion to the workshop of bead Christmas decorations in operation within the Rautis company. During an excursion you can watch the entire process of manufacture, from hand-blowing of glass beads, silvering, colouring to the actual assembling of a decoration. If you like the products, you can buy them at discounted prices in a company shop or you can make them yourself at the Creative Workshop.

•   Distance: 13 km