By the 11th Century Venice was one of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore 26170ST.OO.D305CR.01 Mens Watch most important and rich city states in Europe, and, with Venetian Republic help, in 1204 the Crusaders sacked Constantinople. Many artists and craftsmen fled to what is now Italy, especially Florence and Venice. Many historians believe that this was an event that helped trigger the Renaissance period, the rebirth of Western European culture. The Byzantine glass workers found a good home in Venice. The fine quality of the local sand, a fledging glass industry, and the flamboyant nature of the many wealthy families, made the city fertile ground for high quality artistic glasswork. Within a short time there was a thriving and expanding glass industry, goods not purchased locally were exported Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore 26170ST.OO.D305CR.01 Mens Watch by the traders.
Many Phonetician and Hellenic artisans were taken back to Rome as slaves, taking their glass *** skills with them. The Romans brought mass production to glass ***, in the 1st Century AD they started using metal tubes for glass blowing, *** it quicker and easier than ever before to make glass objects. The increased demand led them to build kilns in coastal areas which were abundant in raw materials and fuel for *** the raw glass. The raw glass was then taken by ships into the cities to be worked by the artisans. This lowered the cost of glass even more, *** it available to the masses, and glass jewelry became an economic alternative to precious stones and metals.With the fall of the the Roman Empire, Western Europe plunged into the dark ages. The production of fine glassware continued in Constantinople, capital of the former Eastern Empire, later know as the Byzantine Empire. The Venetian Republic gained its power and status in the same period. Constantinople was the largest and most important city in Europe at the time, and Western Europe was embroiled in Tribal battles and feudal systems. Venice was naturally positioned between the two worlds, allowing Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore 26170ST.OO.D305CR.01 Mens Watch Venetian merchants to ply their trade along the Adriatic coasts and into the Eastern Mediterranean.
