Лесные гуты и городские цеха: особенности организации стеколоделия в западных землях Украины в XV–XVIII вв.

Abstract

A continuous development of glass-making on Ukrainian lands can be observed only from the end of the 10th century. At that time glass-making was exceptionally an urban craft. After the Mongol-Tatar invasion the arts were slightly declined, but starting from the middle of the 15th century glass-making revived in a somewhat different form: the workshops were located in the forest areas distant from the cities near the sources of raw materials. Such workshops were known as “huty” i.e. glassworks, this term took a Europe-wide meaning and denoted a building with a furnace in it. At the same time craftsmen continued to ply glass-making in the cities. The craftsmen entered workshops or worked independently if they lived in small towns. The workshop manufacturing process had its own characteristic features which certainly affected glass-making. As to the glassworks, glass-making was arranged in a totally different way there and thus the question of glass-making peculiarities in glassworks and workshops and the social and economic conditions of glassworks and workshop craftsmen becomes the matter of current interest.