From Rock Crystal to Glass Production

Scarce availability and difficulty of rock crystal processing forced people to look for a similar material somewhere else rather than trying to obtain it from the mountains. The technology of glass production met this need.

In the glass industry, the word "crystal" came into use when the first truly colourless glass was successfully produced. Historic glass contained high amount of iron oxide because of the raw materials used for producing glass. Iron oxide combined with the use of old furnaces created the typical intensive green shade of ancient and medieval glass.

In terms of the preparation and melting raw materials, the most important discoveries were made on a small island of Murano near Venice at the turn of the Middle Ages and the early modern period. People in Murano managed to produce colourless glass for the first time in history. People began to use colourless glass for producing luxury items similar to those which were created from rock glass until then.

The people of Murano jealously guarded their valuable discoveries. A glass maker who would try to leak the secret from Murano would have risked his life. However, even such extreme precautions could not stop the eventual leak of the colourless glass discovery and glass makers all over the Europe eagerly took up the new technique.