Reflections on Venetian Glass
An outing to Murano from Venice
What could be nicer than to buzz around the Venetian Lagoon in a vaporetto and do a bit of island hopping? One of my favourite islands was Murano, which, like Venice, is actually a series of islands. You get seven islands for the price of one. Great value!
Murano, of course, is famous as the home of Venetian glass. Although glassmaking had originally started off in Venice itself, I hadn’t known that all Venetian glassmakers – along with their furnaces – were moved out to Murano in the 13th century because of the fear of fire. That I can understand after my visit to the US where I heard about the great fire of Chicago! But another reason they moved away was to keep their glass-making secrets, well, secret. It sounds like it was a good move all round, as we discovered on our visit to the Murano Glass Museum.
I was stunned by the examples of glass items going back to the 10th century, when glass making had begun in earnest in Venice. Imagine a drinking glass surviving that long! At the rate Her Ladyship breaks glasses while doing the washing up, a ten year old glass would be an ancient artefact by her standards, let alone a thousand year old one!
The technical end of glass making is beyond me, but the beauty of this amazing material soon became crystal clear. It appears that the only limits to it are the limits of the skills and imagination of the glassmakers themselves. If I hadn’t been in a glass museum, I’d have sworn that some of the pieces on display were made of ceramic, metal or plastic. I had to keep reminding myself that it was all glass. Some pieces were exquisitely delicate, some heavy and gaudy, some totally over the top. Some pieces even looked good enough to eat!
Now, here’s a glassmaker who blew his own trumpet!
I thought I had seen it all until we reached the final exhibition in the museum, the works of Livio Seguso, a local artist who is deservedly world-famous. I was astounded to hear that he is still working away at the age of ninety. There’s hope for my Oldies yet!
I just could not get over the marvellous work of Seguso. Each of his pieces is a delight and has endless facets to it depending on which angle you look at it from.
I particularly liked this model of a sculpture which was erected in the middle of the Venetian Lagoon. I wonder how many unsuspecting gulls landed on this fabulous work of art…
Murano itself is quite lovely. To me, it appeared to be a simpler but more colourful version of Venice. Sadly for the local shops, restaurants and other businesses, there were hardly any visitors. In fact, it was even quieter than Venice!
I enjoyed meandering along the waterside, taking the odd peek into the shops, most of which sell glass of course. Glass what? Glass everything! I spotted a glass orchestra, a glass jig-saw, glass Christmas trees, glass balloons, glass gondolas… You name it, there’s a glass version of it. Even glass gulls, for goodness sake!
From mass-produced souvenirs for the tourist trade to the most exquisite individual works of art, it’s all here.
I am used to Marian statues from Ireland but I’d never seen a glass one before.
There are big designer names here too of course. Murano appears to be your go-to place if you’re in the market for fancy light fittings as it has a long tradition of chandelier manufacturing. Perhaps His Lordship should have held off a bit longer before he bought that chandelier for the awning of the caravan!
I thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Murano. In fact, I had a smashing time altogether!
