Museo
del Cristallo

Inaugurated in 2001, the museum is set up in an underground space, in the area where the nineteenth-century glassworks and Schmidt glassworks were once built, then Boschi, of which today it remains part of a chimney. A unique pearl on all its national level, the Colle museum is in fact the first dedicated to crystal to demonstrate the ancient Colligiana vocation for glass processing, which began in 1331 and has come down to the present day. The museum has been able to optimally combine the past and present of the city, through exhibitions related to the history, technology and current events of crystal production. Inside the museum you move through sections that reconstruct the path taken by the Colligiana glass industry starting from 1820, when the first furnace was installed, up to the full realization of lead crystal dating back to 1963 and then to the present day. There are examples of pre-industrial production and glass finds dating back to the 14th-15th century, ancient machinery for processing and works by famous designers. Finally, there is a particular section of the museum defined as “experimental” entirely dedicated to the curiosities of visitors who can touch cuts, engravings, wheels and other tools of the trade that the master grinders use daily, to better understand the different processing techniques. The museum collection ends with the “crystal forest”, a suggestive scenographic interpretation of the emotions evoked by the material to which the museum is dedicated. A unique and singular museum is that of the Cristallo di Colle, a symbolic city of this process which today produces almost all of the national crystal, thus defending the title of Bohemia of Italy over the years.