Pohorje Glassworks (glazed)

In addition to sawmills and blacksmiths, streams were also used to power mills that crushed and ground materials for glass-making. Water was also important for transporting wood to the glass factories.

The abundance of quartz in Pohorje made it possible for five glass factories, three in high-altitude and two in low-lying areas, to operate since the 17th century.

"Gornja Glažuta" around 1910

The oldest lowland glass factory, which was managed by Bavarian colonists, did not have a special name and used drifted quartzite from Lobnica and Drava. This same building later housed a home for the disabled, a paper mill, and a match factory during the time of Maria Theresa.

The oldest high-altitude glass factory was called Stara glažuta and operated from 1692 to 1793 in the Lobniška valley above Šumik.

Around Gornja Glažuta, which operated northwest of Areh from 1780 to 1892, a small settlement of brick and wooden buildings was built in 1827. The settlement had around 40 apartments for paving workers who also had workshops, administrative, storage, and commercial premises. They also had their own church, an inn, a butcher shop, a store, a winery with a fruit orchard, and a school where German was spoken. Count Giovanni Zabeo of Fala took over the glass factory in 1875 and abandoned it in 1893 due to competition from Greek, Italian, and Czech glassmakers.

Around 50 workers were employed at one glass factory, and up to 200 at the largest, Vivatova. Wives and children also helped with lighter work.

The glass produced by the Pohorje factories was of high quality and was exported to the Viennese court, Germany, the Czech Republic, Egypt, and the Orient.

The most common products were glasses, vases, pitchers, chandeliers, pharmacy bottles, kerosene cylinders, beer goblets, and crystal. They produced all kinds of shaped and ground glass, while the technology of making flat glass was not yet known. The dominant colors were white and green, achieved by adding iron oxide to quartz sand.

Before the advent of railways, glassware was transported on wagons, which were harnessed by horses or oxen. Thus, fewer damaged products reached their destination. A special glassmaking route was also used from the mountain to the valley, which led via Lovrenec in Pohorje to Ruše. The last glass factory stopped working in 1908.