The congress

The Association Internationale pour l'Histoire du Verre (AIHV) was founded in 1956 by Dr Joseph Philippe, then Director of the Musée Curtius in Liège. Just two years later, the association hosted its first gathering—then known as the Journées Internationales du Verre—in that very same city, laying the foundations for what has become a vital international forum for the study of glass through time.

Today, AIHV proudly brings together a global community of archaeologists, art historians, artists, collectors, museum curators, scientists, and researchers from over 33 countries, all united by a shared passion for glass in its many dimensions—historical, archaeological, technical, artistic, scientific, and interdisciplinary.

Sixty-seven years on, the 23rd International Congress, initially scheduled for Jerusalem in 2024, now finds its new home in Mainz in 2025. We are pleased to share that the heart of the original, carefully curated programme remains intact, and has been further enriched by a wide range of new contributions from esteemed colleagues across the field.

This year’s congress offers a truly global and time-spanning perspective—from the glass finds of Zanzibar to Sweden, from the delicate beauty of Korean gold-glass beads to the vivid expression of 20th-century Turkish beaded ornaments. The thematic range extends from the earliest examples of ancient glass production to contemporary materials, with a strong emphasis on scientific approaches to the analysis and interpretation of glass objects.

To accommodate the breadth and depth of the programme, talks will be delivered in two parallel sessions, allowing space for every voice to be heard and every discovery to be shared.