Baccarat Crystal is a French manufacturer of fine crystal glassware located in Baccarat, France. The company owns two museums: the Musée Baccarat in Baccarat, Meurthe-et-Moselle and the Musée Baccarat in Paris on the Place des États-Unis. Group du Louvre is the majority shareholder of the company and is a subsidiary of the United States company Starwood Capital Group. In 1764 King Louis XV of France gave permission to found a glassworks in the town of Baccarat in the Lorraine region in eastern France to Prince Bishop Cardinal Louis-Joseph de Laval-Montmorency (1710-1802). Production consisted of window panes, mirrors and stemware until 1816 when the first crystal oven went into operation. By that time over 3000 workers were employed at the site. Baccarat received its first royal commission in 1823. This began a lengthy line of commissions for royalty and heads of state throughout the world. In 1855 Baccarat won its first gold medal, at the World's Fair in Paris. Baccarat first began marking its work with a registered mark in 1860.
