Walkin' in a crystal wonderland

It's a palace fit for a shimmering princess. Baccarat's new 3,000-sq-m museum, showroom and restaurant in Paris is designer Philippe Starck's ode to all things crystal. Arriving visitors walk past sparkling crystal fireplaces and gigantic mirrors, then go upstairs into a three-room gallery that pays homage to Baccarat's almost 200-year history of crystal making. Among the works on display are pieces designed for the 1878 Universal Exhibition, including an ornate enameled Turkish coffee set. There's a huge showcase full of vases, dishes and stemware commissioned by personages ranging from Emperor Mutsuhito of Japan to Jazz Age entertainer Josephine Baker. In one room, a giant candelabra ordered by Czar Nicholas II stands next to chairs designed for Indian maharajas. Another features a surreal canopy (pictured) painted by French artist Gérard Garouste, inspired by the symbols of alchemy: air, water, earth and fire. Throughout the museum, Starck contrasts the sumptuous and the simple. In the tableware showroom, for instance, bare concrete walls surround a 13-m-long display table full of crystalline astonishments. The only thing missing? A glass slipper. Maison Baccarat, 11 Place des Etats-Unis. Tel: (33-1) 40 22 11 00.