Loading...
Done
“Tuesday night in the verdant valley of Wattens, Austria, at the headquarters of the Swarovski crystal company, Gaultier, and dozens more international designers, had found themselves within the pages of a storybook fable. To mark the 120th anniversary of the company, founded by Daniel Swarovski (who was looking for a secluded place to hide the secrets of his newly invented lead crystal cutting techniques) and continuously run by five generations of Swarovskis since, more than 500 people descended on the Alpine region to visit the family’s odd and marvelous monument to their history – Kristallwelten, which translates as Crystal Worlds. It is part museum and part theme park, created 20 years ago to celebrate the centennial, with a warren of artist-designed concept rooms dominated by an enormous entrance, carved from the ground in the shape of a giant’s head with a waterfall spewing from its mouth. For the last several months, the museum, the second largest tourist destination in Austria with more than 600,000 annual visitors, had been closed during an expansion that more than doubled the size of the museum and its surrounding park”. – Eric Wilson


General view of the entrance to the Swarowski Crystal World museum on its reopening day following renovation, in the western Austrian village of Wattens April 30, 2015. (Photo by Dominic Ebenbichler/Reuters)

General view of the entrance to the Swarowski Crystal World museum on its reopening day following renovation, in the western Austrian village of Wattens April 30, 2015. (Photo by Dominic Ebenbichler/Reuters)




Visitors walk through the Swarowski Crystal World museum on its reopening day following renovation, in the western Austrian village of Wattens April 30, 2015. (Photo by Dominic Ebenbichler/Reuters)

Visitors walk through the Swarowski Crystal World museum on its reopening day following renovation, in the western Austrian village of Wattens April 30, 2015. (Photo by Dominic Ebenbichler/Reuters)




Visitors look at an exhibit at the Swarowski Crystal World museum on its reopening day following renovation, in the western Austrian village of Wattens April 30, 2015. (Photo by Dominic Ebenbichler/Reuters)

Visitors look at an exhibit at the Swarowski Crystal World museum on its reopening day following renovation, in the western Austrian village of Wattens April 30, 2015. (Photo by Dominic Ebenbichler/Reuters)




Visitors look at an exhibit at the Swarowski Crystal World museum on its reopening day following renovation, in the western Austrian village of Wattens April 30, 2015. (Photo by Dominic Ebenbichler/Reuters)

Visitors look at an exhibit at the Swarowski Crystal World museum on its reopening day following renovation, in the western Austrian village of Wattens April 30, 2015. (Photo by Dominic Ebenbichler/Reuters)




Visitors look at an exhibit at the Swarowski Crystal World museum on its reopening day following renovation, in the western Austrian village of Wattens April 30, 2015. (Photo by Dominic Ebenbichler/Reuters)

Visitors look at an exhibit at the Swarowski Crystal World museum on its reopening day following renovation, in the western Austrian village of Wattens April 30, 2015. (Photo by Dominic Ebenbichler/Reuters)




Visitors look at an exhibit at the Swarowski Crystal World museum on its reopening day following renovation, in the western Austrian village of Wattens April 30, 2015. (Photo by Dominic Ebenbichler/Reuters)

Visitors look at an exhibit at the Swarowski Crystal World museum on its reopening day following renovation, in the western Austrian village of Wattens April 30, 2015. (Photo by Dominic Ebenbichler/Reuters)




A visitor walks through the Swarowski Crystal World museum on its reopening day following renovation, in the western Austrian village of Wattens April 30, 2015. (Photo by Dominic Ebenbichler/Reuters)

A visitor walks through the Swarowski Crystal World museum on its reopening day following renovation, in the western Austrian village of Wattens April 30, 2015. (Photo by Dominic Ebenbichler/Reuters)
01 May 2015 13:40:00