The Baccarat Museum (Galerie-Musee Baccarat) and the Baccarat company headquarters is housed in a mansion that was originally built in the 19th century for a countess who was heir to much of the Paribas banking fortune. It is indeed beautiful.

First Impressions

The entry and walk up the grand staircase is, of course, lit by beautiful Baccarat chandeliers, and covered in a runner with embedded LED lights. The grand ballroom has beautiful carvings, a hand-painted ceiling mural, and of course, a chandelier. Heck, even Baccarat’s restrooms are works of art—all mirrored glass and with each stall having its own crystal sconce.

The museum “experience” begins with a walk through a retail display room. You buy a ticket here and then pass a long table with displays of beautiful dinner settings. Next comes a room set up as an elegant bar that displays the company’s decanters, cocktail and wine glasses, and even crystal espresso cups. Of course, everything is for sale at a price.

Exploring the Baccarat Museum

The actual museum experience begins one floor up. An introductory film shown in the grand ballroom provides the history of the company that was founded in 1764. Everything is still made by hand, including individual glasses which still require contributions by six individual craftsmen (for blowing, cutting, engraving, inspecting, and so forth).

From there, we entered another formal dining room that contains originals of individual historical glasses under glass domes to protect them. They were originally created as private commissions and have since been expanded into full commercial lines (which are displayed next to the original).

Then on to two additional rooms (one of which whose ceiling and walls are covered in beautifully painted canvas) in which a broad range of original designs are displayed in covered showcases.

While the museum wouldn’t be at the top of our list but if you have time, it is absolutely beautiful.