in 1995, Swarovski Company; world′s leading manufacturer of tacky glass crystals, hired the Austrian artist, writer and actor André Heller to design a theme park in Wattens, Austria to celebrate the company′s 100th anniversary.
Within a few years, the “Swarovski Crystal Worlds” museum (Swarovski Kristallwelten in German) became Austria′s second-most successful museum.
The park is housed inside of a green giant that sort of grows out of a hill and from whose mouth a waterfall emerges. The main attraction is the “Chambers of Wonder” exhibition, which is contained within the green giant. The entrance is tucked under his beard and leads visitors under a grassy hillside.
In 2015, the park was given a facelift and expanded to almost double the original size. Now it also features a large, outdoor green space with attractions throughout, including a playground tower for children and a “Crystal Cloud” made up of over 800,000 separate gems. Other new attractions are five new Chambers of Wonder: “Silent Light”; contains the sparkling crystal tree at its center, “Into Lattice Sun”; installation of myriad crystals and mirrors giving the spatial illusion of ever new vastness and depths, “Studio Job Wunderkammer”; a fairground brimming with exuberant colors, shapes, composition, and concepts invite the visitors to make their own discoveries, “Eden”; a landscape that evokes a forest which holds the biggest crystals Swarovski has ever produced within, and “Timeless”; a 120-year journey through fascinating crystalline creations and legendary pieces.
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