Murano Glass

Murano glass has know moments of glory over the centuries as well as moments of decline. However it has always been characterized by an obsessive search for quality. In fact Murano's motives in its pride has always been its aesthetic quality which has often contrasted with its competition and has frustrated attempts at imitation. Through out the history of art, the hollow blown glass of Murano has forged it's own path, it's strength being in its variation of type and class.

From its poly-chromatic glazes and the gold in the cobalt blue of the Barovier cup to the lightness and transparency of its glasses; from the delicateness of the lattice-work to the originality of Murano glass; from the mosaics to the counting beads; from the panes of glass to the mirrors, it all represents the original history of glass.

Murano was a commercial port as far back as the 7th Century, and by the 10th Century it had grown into a prosperous trading center with its own coins, police force, and commercial aristocracy. Then, in 1291, the Venetian Republic ordered glassmakers to move their foundries to Murano because the glassworks represented a fire danger in Venice, whose buildings were mostly wooden at the time.

Murano is a small group of islands lying on the edge of the Adriatic Sea in the lagoon of Venice, about 3,000 meters north of the larger group of islands comprising the city of Venice.

What made Murano's glassmakers so special? For one thing, they were the only people in Europe who knew how to make a mirror. They also developed or refined technologies such as crystalline glass, enameled glass (smalto), glass with threads of gold (aventurine), multicolored glass (millefiori), milk glass (lattimo), and imitation gemstones made of glass.

Their virtual monopoly on quality glass lasted for centuries, until glassmakers in Northern and Central Europe introduced new techniques and fashions around the same time that colonists were emigrating to the New World.

In the 100 years between 1860 and 1960 the glass producing firms located on Murano rose to world leadership in the production of decorative glass objects. One of the most remarkable aspects of this remarkable achievement is that it was the second time that Murano had attained that pinnacle--and the two occasions were separated by 500 years.

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