Cristallerie
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In 1826 two Frenchmen bought a deserted building on the grounds of an old Abbey and opened a crystal manufactory.
The factory reached its pinnacle shortly before the first World War when every day more than 5000 people made around 160,000 crystal items.
The crystal was famous for its purity and exceptional brilliance. And found its way into homes all over the world. But with the depression of the 1930's things changed for the worst and despite being subsidized by the Belgian government right up until 1987 the Cristallerie finally closed.
Fortunatley a Belgian manager bought the Cristallerie the same year and managed to resurrect it back to its former more successfull era.
The company is still going strong to this day and now produces over 1400 different items of crystal from ash trays to ornaments.
The site we explored was the original factory which dates back to 1826. And didnt fail to impress us either, it had a mixture of everything inside from decay and overgrown plants to the stunning crystal glasses, plates and ornaments that were left behind.
This place really is a time capsule and needs to stay that way .Which is why I am not naming the site or even its location.
Once inside we began to find the bits and bobs you usually expect with old factorys. Machinery, tools, etc etc. But it was the extras that really stunned us!
Solid crystal ash trays, glasses of every description you could imagaine, glass bricks and some amazing plates with Micheal Angelo and a few other notable characters etched in them. A most welcome find indeed.
The best thing about the place though without a doubt is how preserved it is. Considering how long its been closed, its like going back in time.
It kept us occupied for an hour or so reading through the mounds of paper work still in situ of old orders and invoices and the copious amounts of crystal just lying around the place.
Its not often I like old factorys or even mills but this place was a real treat and was quite refreshing to see. Just a shame that back in the UK sites like this would be well and truly vandalized to an inch of their lives, pity the English vandals cant take a leaf out of the Europeans books and leave sites like these as they are.
EXPLORED 2009
Cristallerie
URBAN ASSAULT
