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Lauscha, the famous glassblowing town, is situated at an altitude of 625 m in the Sonneberg district of southern Thuringia, about 13 km north of Sonneberg and 24 km southwest of Saalfeld/Saale.

The first glassworks were founded already in 1597 by privilege of Duke Johann Casimir of Saxe-Coburg. Lauscha soon became the leading place for glassblowing in the Thuringian Forest region. Further glassworks were founded in Ernstthal am Rennsteig in 1707. Lauscha is also know as the place where in 1835 the manufacture of glass eyes was invented by Ludwig Müller-Uri. Ernstthal was incorporated into the municipality of Lauscha in 1994.

The picture on glass no.2326 [left] shows a view of the Bahnhofschule, today named "Goetheschule" after the German poet, natural scientist and politician Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832). One of Goethe's inventions was a glass barometer which still is produced in the glassworks of Lauscha.