The production of artistic glass has always represented an important economic reality for the city of Venice.

The oldest trace foundetabout the art of glass dates back to 982, and it is an contract of donation: According to the date of this document, in 1982 Murano officially celebrated the 1000 years of Murano glasswork.

Many documents dating from the end of 1200 testify to the concentration of furnaces along the Rio dei Vetrai in Murano, where the oldest laboratories are still present. Starting from 1450, thanks also to the intuitions and ingenuity of Angelo Barovier, Glazier of an ancient Muranese family, there is an evolution in the techniques of working, which will develop exceptionally in the next two centuries, leading to Creation of glass of high and incomparable purity.

In the sixteenth century Murano glass saw its highest splendor: refine the techniques and developed the materials thanks to the experiences of the fifteenth, the Glassmakers devoted themselves to the study and refinement of the forms of the artifacts.

The blowing became thin and pure, the styles increasingly essential and light, suitable to embellish the tables of the rich Europeans.

At this time a real form of industrial espionage was developed among the furnaces, intending to seize and steal the secrets of the best glassmakers in Murano.

The Republic established artistic acknowledgements for the Masters who introduced new products in glass processing, protecting the important artistic innovations of the time, such as the invention of filigree and filigree in Reticello.

The privileges assigned had a time duration, at the expiration of which the processing techniques could be used by all glassworks.

The authorities also sought to limit the emigration of Masters and the exportation of Technology: in 1605 the Golden Book was drafted, containing the names of those belonging to the magnificent Murano community, since then known as the glass nobility of the island.

In the twentieth century the Murano masters were able to follow the developments of contemporary artistic movements, dedicating both to a sophisticated craftsmanship and to the experimentation of art, respecting the millenary tradition that makes the glass of Murano is a unique, prestigious and inimitable product.

Visit Murano today to see all the beautiful Fournaces in the Island.

If you’ve missed it, you can still buy original Murano Glass in some Murano glass online shop.