Bayel Crystal Museum

Bayel in the Champagne region of France was an important centre for making glass from the Middle Ages. It became famous for its fine-quality crystal glasswares in the seventeenth century. Located since 1996 in an historic glassworks, this museum explores the history of glass and crystal-making from antiquity to the present day. Many of the processes of manufacture have changed little since the eighteenth century. The museum shows these through a film of the region’s glass workshops as they operated in 1975 and a video that traces all stages of the manufacturing process: mouth-blowing, hand-carving, sand etching, gilding and enamelling. An exhibition tells the story of the glass and crystal manufacturing as a central part of local village life. There are activities for children, displays of some of the finest examples of the crystal maker’s art and live glassblowing demonstrations. A shop sells Bayel glass and crystal.