La Granja

On May 10th, the group traveled 20 minutes to the town of La Granja. The first place we visited was the Real Fábrica de Cristales, which is a Glass Museum. This building was constructed in 1770 by Joseph Díaz during the reign of Carlos III, who fomented national industries such as this one. It is of neoclassical rectangular design and made up of stone and brick as well. The equipment within the museum used for glass making includes replicas of 2 huge heating ovens with 8 openings for the crisoles (melting pots). The glass, a mixture of 70% sand and 30% of potassium, sodium, and calcium, would be heated at 1,300°C for 16 hours. The factory, now mostly a museum, was active up until 1962. However, we learned that the art of making glass actually originated in Syria in 4000 BC.

The group also got to see beautiful glasses being blown at this museum, which put in perspective how many people it actually takes to produce a piece. We saw molded decanters and blown glass champagne flutes being made. The glass blowers blew into long pipes and then twirled them to begin to shape the glass. Each person had a specific task in the whole process, with the final step of letting each piece cool to later sell. Any excess glass would be reheatedand recycled. There used to be a school of glass blowing, but when the economic crisis of 2008 hit Spain, the school was closed.

Our guide explained how glass panes used to be made from huge bottle-like shapes called manchones. They were very difficult to make because workers only had 3-4 minutes to blow the glass before it hardened. Also it took a lot of lung power to blow such big pieces. Mirrors were also created for the royalty and the very wealthy. Back then they were made with mercury. The saying that if someone breaks a mirror, they will have 7 years of bad luck comes from the early days of mirrror making. Supposedly, if a maid broke a mirror, they would have their salary docked for 7 years to pay back their employer. The museum also displayed some white glass that looked like porcelain; its coloring is made of ground up horns of animals, specifically deer. Today this museum produces elaborate chandeliers of unique modern/baroque styles, for example, the "Cosmic" chandelier (shown below) incorporates the planets of the solar system.

After lunch we walked to the Palacio Real, but unfortunately, it was closed for preparations for the King's visit on the following day. However, we ventured to the gardens behind the Palace where we saw beautiful fountains and an abundance of greenery. We had a chance to enter a labyrinth within the gardens, which was fun to explore and try to find our way back. Some of us got lost. I won't mention who.