# Real Fábrica de Cristales de La Granja

- URL : https://www.inexpeditions.com/en/in100/rallumer-le-four-royal
- Language : English
- Publisher : in:Expeditions SAS, 8 rue Lacépède, 75005 Paris, bonjour@inexpeditions.com
- Place : Real Fábrica de Cristales de La Granja, La Granja de San Ildefonso, Ségovie, Castille-et-León, ES (https://realfabricadecristales.es/)

> Near Segovia, at the foot of the Guadarrama mountains, the glassworks built for Charles III is still blowing glass. Under brick domes, master glassmakers…

The royal furnace relit

## Real Fábrica de Cristales de La Granja

realfabricadecristales.es

Near Segovia, at the foot of the Guadarrama mountains, the glassworks built for Charles III is still blowing glass. Under brick domes, master glassmakers recreate La Granja’s historic pieces with the blowpipe and the cutting wheel, and visitors take their own turn at the furnace.

Built between 1770 and 1784 to plans by José Díaz “Gamones”, the factory was meant to spare the Court its imports of luxury goods: 25,000 m² of buildings. In 1982 people from Segovia founded the National Glass Centre to save the building and the craft. Production still uses 24% lead crystal, and the site remains Spain’s reference for hand-made glass.

For a group of 15 to 50, the guided tour of the museum, the furnace and two workshops lasts two hours and must be booked. Everyone can then blow a piece with a master glassmaker, half an hour at the furnace, in work clothes. A team learns a gesture that cannot be undone: listening to the master and keeping the right tempo. Segovia is half an hour from Madrid by high-speed train.

Photo credits : Zarateman (Wikimedia Commons, CC0)

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Source : https://www.inexpeditions.com/en/in100/rallumer-le-four-royal · in:Expeditions, learning expeditions and impact retreats since 2015.