Italian Murano Glass
Italian Murano Glass
Heart in glass – my grandma's Murano glass pendant
My grandma has a beautiful ruby red Murano glass pendant she never takes off. It is heart-shaped and it has bits of gold floating in it like shimmering stars. Our favorite game as kids was inventing the most beautiful story about that pendant and its history. How little did we know that the reality was much more mysterious and romantic than we guessed? One summer when we were all visiting her and the house was full of grandchildren, children, noise and laughter, grandma gathered us around her in the evening and told the story of the ruby glass pendant.
"I met him in Murano, in Italy" – started grandma. "He was tall and handsome and his hair was so curly and dark, all I wanted to do was comb it with my fingers. I was living in Italy at the time, my father was working in Venice and I was having grand old time visiting all the palaces, museums and secret gardens. One day, I was walking through corridors of the ancient Palazzo Giustinian, visiting the glass museum. This was not my first visit to this gorgeous Gothic palace. I was enormously attracted to the ancient pieces of glass placed together with modern collections created by contemporary glass artists. I was trying to imagine what kind of person could create such breath-takingly beautiful objects, like morsels of trapped rainbows. There was this one collection of ruby red glass jewelry that I found spectacular and could not take my eyes of it. Then I noticed this tall young man looking at me."
"Do you like it?"-he asked me.
"Very much" I told him. "Do you know who made it?"
"I was hoping you would ask" – he said. "It is my first piece in this museum and I still cannot believe that I was given the honor. I won the award at our school's annual exhibition, and as a reward, my collection is now part of the history."
"You are going to the glass-making school?"
"Yes, In 1862 Bishop Vicenzo Zanetti started the school which was annexed to the museum, for the glassworkers who wanted to learn the old techniques, using old pieces exhibited in the museum. That is how we managed to preserve the ancient Murano techniques until today.
"And that is how it started"-said grandma with a sigh. "We spent the whole summer walking through Venice and Murano, visiting other islands, discovering places no tourists have ever seen. I had great time, I was young and in love, and all was fine with the world. I learned a lot about glass-making, because my gorgeous Italian glass-maker took me to his studio to see the fires in furnaces and molten glass turning into beautiful pieces like by magic. He showed me bags of sand and told me that it all started with that simple, modest material. And then my world ended. My father was transferred back home, the war was coming and we had to leave. My heart was broken. We met one last time, on the balcony of the Palazzo Giustinian, overlooking the bay. He gave me one of his Murano glass pendants, the most beautiful he has ever made. He told me that it was his heart that he put in glass, for me to keep for ever. And I did. "
"What happened to him?" I asked.
"I have never heard a word from him. The war started and many Murano factories closed for the duration. If he is alive, he is an old man now. But his heart is with me, and I always feel like he is with me through this beautiful piece of art created by his own hands."
"Grandma, where can we find more such lovely Murano glass pendants?" asked my sister. She was always crazy about jewelry.
"Well, you kids do everything on the internet these days, look for Murano glass and I am sure you will find many beautiful Murano glass pendants. But, they do not come with beautiful Italian boys, I am afraid. " said grandma, smiling.
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