Important stages in the history of glass : the invention of glassblowing

The invention of glassblowing took place in the 1st century BC, probably in Syria. It was the signal of a veritable revolution in production methods and the repertoire of shapes and decorations.

Suddenly it was possible to produce larger objects more rapidly; glassmaking activities intensified and spread quickly into all the territories of the Roman Empire.

Glassmaking was very prosperous in Belgian Gaul and the Rhineland in the 3rd and 4th centuries AD.
Glass became a product therefore that was widely available and in many forms; jewellery, art objects, table services, lamps, vessels and bottles, mosaic tiles and from this time on the plate glass. After the fall of the Roman Empire the tradition of glassmaking spread not only to the West but also to the Byzantine Empire and to Islam.