Diamond & Jewelry News, Advice and Prices for Consumers
Diamond & Jewelry News, Advice and Prices for Consumers
September 8, 2010
I really love crystal, and lately I've been interested in crystal chandeliers!
September 16, 2010
I think the whole point of crystal chandeliers is that there are tons of little lamps (electric lights now) hanging there from the ceiling, and the crystals help to reflect the light. I guess that depending on the level of expertise of the craftsman who made the chandelier there would be better level of reflection, and maybe it helps the whole room to glow, or provides a certain part of the room with more light, and maybe reflects light in certain shapes or angles into the room. I read somewhere the crystal chandeliers began before there was electricity (obviously that's gotta be true, since there are some wickedly old chandeliers out there made of amazing crystal) and that the crystal was a non-flamable way of illuminating a room. It must have seemed almost like a magic effect, something only really rich people would be able to do...to light candles and make the whole room shine with reflection. Very smart, I think.
September 9, 2010
I know one thing! The biggest BOHEMIAN style crystal chandelier was a gift from Queen Victoria and is situated in the Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul. It is made up of 750 lamps and weighs 4.5 tons! Wild! The Dolmabahçe Palace has the world's largest collection of Bohemian and Baccarat crystal artifacts, and they even have a huge staircase where the banisters are made of baccarat crystal! Man, wouldn't you want to walk down THEM stairs? I totally would. Then I'd sneak back in and steal one to take home as a (sellable!) souvenir :) In my dreams, ha ha :)
September 8, 2010
Even after people started using gas lighting rather than flame lighting, people used to call crystal chandeliers "gasolier". Pretty cool! I guess that this is when the chandeliers got even more ornate, because it was easier to create a more intricate design with crystals and many gas "flames" when you weren't simply using candles. Still sounds super scary, though. I'm glad we have electricity now and I can enjoy the beauty of these kinds of chandeliers without all of that angst that I would feel if I were worried about the whole thing blowing up. One last word on crystals and electricity-it seems to me that since electric lighting is able to illuminate and glow in a much more superior way than former methods of lighting, that the use of crystals is now basically a novelty that just makes the light more beautiful and ornate-looking. Who knows!
