Laacher soap dish

The ceramic workshop in the Benedictine abbey of Maria Laach near Andernach is a treasure trove of old pottery forms. Many have been forgotten over the years but others, for example those originals by Theodor Bogler, who worked at Maria Laach as an artist, have been carefully sorted and archived.
This soap dish made of Westerwald clay is cast by hand in the classic plaster mould technique and then glazed and fired. The soap dries out nicely on the backs of the five ribs in the bottom of the dish.

The production of ceramic objects has a long tradition in the Benediktinerabtei Maria Laach in the Eifel. In any case, the monastery is located in a region that has been known for this craft for centuries. In Maria Laach in particular, it experienced a new heyday in the early 20th century thanks to the Bauhaus-trained monk Theodor Bogler. After the ceramics workshop had only a shadowy existence, it was reopened a few years ago. Currently it is managed by Br. Stephan. The master ceramist Gabi Schöneberger and the porcelain painter Andrea Lange work with him. Both classically at the wheel and in the casting process, which Bogler established, is worked again today.