RATING: ♦♦♦♦♦
Becky wanted to visit the Corning Museum of Glass from the moment we planned our visit to the Finger Lakes area. The museum has a collection of more than 45,000 glass objects, some over 3,500 years old. We have always felt a connection to glass, as we grew up in Toledo, OH, the Glass Capital of the World, home of Libbey Glass, Libbey-Owens-Ford, Owens-Corning, and Owens-Illinois.
The museum’s glass collection showcases more than 35 centuries of glass artistry, and the galleries explore glass making from antiquity through the present day. The galleries contain objects representing every country and historical period in which glass making has been practiced.
One display that was particularly fascinating is Glass in Nature. Most of us think of glass as a man-made material, but it is found in many forms in the natural world. In nature, glasses are formed when sand and/or rocks, often high in silica, are heated to high temperatures and then cooled rapidly. Examples in the display include glass formed from lightning striking sand, molten volcanic rock, meteor impacts on the earth, and my favorite, marine creatures that have siliceous skeletons which are a form of natural glass!
While there, you can watch demonstrations of glass making that include glass blowing, flame working, fiber optics, and glass breaking. You could also pay a little extra for the opportunity to create your own glass object. Don’t know how anyone would have time to do that, unless you plan to spend all day there. They say that you should allow 2-3 hours to see everything. Becky was there for at least 4 hours and felt rushed at the end because they were closing. But so glad she got to visit!