Czech glass = a world rarity
It was France that instigated the inclusion of handmade glass production on the UNESCO list; alongside the Czech Republic, the initiative was also supported by Germany, Hungary, Finland and Spain. Czechia succeeded in having UNESCO list traditional blown-glass beaded Christmas decorations from the Rautis workshop in Poniklá in the Krkonoše Mountains in 2020. The scope could be far wider now - to cover literally the whole of glass production. From the viewpoint of UNESCO, Czechia is exceptional: in other countries, it is just one of the techniques used to make glass by hand that is listed, whereas in Czechia all those techniques are represented to this day; glass production in this country spans every step, from the very beginning through to the end consumer.
Glass from the Czech Republic enchants the world
Countless times the Czechs have proven (and keep on proving!) that they have the magic touch with glass. Lasvit, for instance, has been making the trophies for the winners of the Tour de France bike race for more than ten years now. Then there’s the Rückl glassworks, which crafts the trophies awarded to champions of the Miami Open tennis tournament. The whole world’s attention is captured by two fifty-metre crystal dragons crafted by Lasvit on the island of Saipan in the Pacific Ocean. They boast two records – the biggest lighting installation and the biggest jewel in the world! If that’s not enough, glassmakers from the Železný Brod region produced the largest piece of fused glass in the world – a seven-ton sarcophagus for Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.
Where to go to find glass in Czechia? To the Crystal Valley, to Prague, and to a UNESCO spa
The artistic glassmaker Jiří Pačinek, for example, whose works played an important role in the Hollywood film Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery starring Daniel Craig, created a magical glass garden at his glassworks, which you can also visit. You’ll find it in the heart of the Crystal Valley in North Bohemia – the birthplace of the famous Bohemian glass.
While you're there, be sure not to miss the Museum of Glass and Jewellery – the only museum in the world that presents glass and jewellery together, boasting two unprecedented exhibitions! Not only can you admire some fine pieces from one of the most important collections in Europe, you can also see some sparkling treasures from the world’s largest public collection of glass Christmas decorations!
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And, while you're visiting Czechia, you definitely mustn’t pass up on the chance to take a tour of what’s probably the most famous Czech glassworks, Moser in Karlovy Vary, a spa town listed as a UNESCO Heritage Site. The glassworks was the court supplier of glass to the Emperor of the Imperial Court of Vienna, the Persian Shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar and King Edward VII of England… And even today, brilliantly cut pieces of crystal are bought by some of the most famous and prominent figures in the world. Stars who have Moser chandeliers at home include singer Justin Bieber and actress Salma Hayek.
One truly unique attraction can then be found in the Krkonoše Mountains, the oldest continuously operating glassworks in the world! The Novosad and Son glassworks in Harrachov has been blowing glass for more than 300 years!
Or perhaps you fancy checking out the largest work of glass in Europe? You can admire the Iceberg installation from the Lasvit glassworks, consisting of 1 503 wooden panels set with 110 panes of crystal in various sharply angled shapes, all of which gradually light up, in the lobby of the Centrum Bořislavka shopping centre in Prague.
Preciosa, on the other hand, has lit up the atrium of one of Czechia’s most remarkable functionalist buildings, the former headquarters of the Electric Enterprises on Bubenská ulice in Holešovice, Prague. This amazing light installation consists of 797 hand-blown glass balls.