Most folks have heard of the Emerald City made famous in The Wizard of Oz.
While that was city was fictional, there's a very real city in south-central New York nicknamed the Crystal City because of its connection with the glass industry. Perhaps. you already know its name — Corning, NY — or know and have used many of the company's inventions and products.
This city is where we visited the Corning Museum of Glass, a world-class museum completely dedicated to glass. This visit was the first part of our recent PA road trip which included a visit with long-time blog friend, Linda and husband, Bob. (Details on our meet-up will be in a future post.)
![]() |
Internet photo as it would not have been possible for me to show its size |
Corning Glass Works established the Corning Museum of Glass in 1951 as an educational institution to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the original company which was renamed Corning Inc. in 1989. This is the world’s largest glass museum dedicated completely to glass. Multiple modern buildings that comprise the grounds are all, not unexpectedly, made of glass. Visitors come here worldwide and an estimated 300,000 annually view collections of over 50,000 glass objects, some over 3,500 years old. The museum is also one of the premier glass working schools in the world.
Once entering the museum, we were struck by the size of the piece in the center of the lobby, Fern Green Tower by American artist Dale Chihulymade. The glass and steel sculpture was constructed in 1999 and redone in 2013 increasing its height from 11 to 15-1/2 feet. The sculpture was disassembled, cleaned and a steel structure was added. The sculpture was then reassembled with 200 additional blown glass pieces for a total of 712 handmade elements attached to the steel structure.
In case anyone was curious, the Corning Museum of Glass has never been a showcase for the Corning company or its products. This non-profit institution is dedicated only to preserve and expand the knowledge of a glass through its history, culture, science and design.
![]() |
Armory Houghton |
If you're wondering why the owner of a Brooklyn-based company would relocate to a small town, the answer is cost. Labor costs were cheaper in Corning than in NY, plus there were natural resources of coal, sand and limestone, all used in glassmaking. A canal and railroad network provided better access to other supplies and sales markets. The company was renamed the Corning Flint Glass Works and later incorporated as Corning Glass Works.
While the company was being established, lead glass was becoming popular in the American market and Corning, NY, soon became the leading center for this glass style. Multiple cutting firms started as professional glassmakers worldwide spurred the city's growth and reputation. and region. Corning became the center of glass research and became nicknamed the Crystal City.
In 1877, Charles Houghton (son of Armory Houghton) designed and patented a new signal lamp for the railroad that resisted dirt, snow and ice buildup making it a big improvement. In the 1880s. Corning also has a long history producing glass for lighthouses through its work with the Fresnel lens system used in them.
![]() |
Corning manufactured the glass used in lighthouses |
![]() |
Full size glass blower sculptures in Coming Museum of Glass |
These events provided financial stability and led the way for glass being used in science and technology.
Tower of 600 glass bowls, Corning Museum of Glass |
![]() |
Aerial views of 1972 flooding from Hurricane Agnes (Corning Museum of Glass) |
![]() |
Damage to the Corning Museum of Glass library was extensive (Internet source) |
Thomas S. Buechner, former museum director labelled this: the greatest single catastrophe borne by an American museum. The damage to exhibits and the library took years to recover; however, the Glass Museum pledged to reopen which it did on August 1, just 39 days after the flooding. The museum also provided financial assistance to help the town and its residents in recovery efforts. (I watched several videos of the widespread flood devastation in Corning, NY. All above photos are from the Corning Museum of Glass.)
![]() |
Sticker on glass of museum lobby shows flood water height |
![]() |
Steuben glassware in Carder Gallery, Corning Museum of Glass |
![]() |
Amphitheater Hot Shop at Corning Museum of Glass (Internet source) |
The gift store of the Corning Museum of Glass is on the entire lower floor |
![]() |
These delicate pieces were created by the process of flameworking |
![]() |
Contemporary Art+Design Wing, Corning Museum of Glass |
Most of our visit was spent in the Contemporary Art+Design Wing mentioned earlier. The contemporary galleries there feature stark white walls and floors and soaring ceilings with skylights. The main gallery includes 70+ international works from the museum's permanent collection, many are large and visually impressive.
Forest Glass by Lino Tagliapietra, Corning Museum of Glass |
The 80-year old Tagliapietra is a leader of the 20th century Italian glassblowing revival and is considered a master of traditional techniques. His work is known for its elegance, complexity and visual poetry.
Forest Glass by Katherine Gray, Corning Museum of Glass |
Here's photos of other exhibits seen in galleries the Contemporary Art+Design Wing. Unfortunately, I didn't get information on the names of these pieces or the skilled artists who created them.
![]() |
The Mad Hatter, perhaps? |
After Thoughts — This week, I starting thinking of word combinations with glass in them and here's just a few: glass slipper, magnifying glass, glass house, glass jaw, sea glass, spy glass, safety glass, broken glass, looking glass, stained glass, shot glass, cut glass, optical glass, shattered glass, glass ceiling, glassy eyed, under glass.
Also, thought of phrases that include the word glass, like: glass half full (or empty), through the looking glass, through a glass darkly, looking through rose-colored glasses, raise your glass, smooth as glass, live in a glass house, a glass in every half pound (Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate ad), bottle and glass (Cockney rhyming slang for arse) — there's others and most likely you know some as well.
Glass has become part of our everyday lives not only in form and function, but language too.
5 comments:
I don’t know if you remember, but we went there in August 2024 on our family vacation to the Finger Lakes. My grandson particularly enjoyed the museum and we were all impressed with the demonstrations. It’s definitely a place worth visiting.
The Chihuly and Katherine Gray pieces are stunning, especially the one made from 2,000 found drinking glasses, what creativity. It's awful to read about the devastation from Hurricane Agnes, but inspiring how quickly the museum reopened. What an interesting place to visit on your road trip, and I'm very much looking forward to the post about meeting Linda and Bob.
This is a very good write-up about the Glass Museum. We drove by this museum so many times in visits to the Finger Lakes area. We kept saying “next time”. “Next time” arrived a few years ago. I am glad that we visited. This museum is an excellent place to visit. We, too, spent a couple hours in the museum, plus saw one of the glass blowing demonstrations.
I recall being there in the early to mid 80s, but that’s it. I have no particular memories of the place.
...I love Dale Chihuly's work!
Post a Comment