The Mauritius Glass Gallery

Glass recycling in Mauritius

Last week my mother came to visit me in Mauritius and just before she left to come back in Switzerland I took the opportunity to visit the Mauritius Glass Gallery to buy a gift for my brother: the famous glass of Phoenix, the most famous local beer in Mauritius.

How to get there

The Mauritius Glass gallery is located in Phoenix, a town in the Plaines Wilhems district, the central part of the island. The island is not big so whether you are in the north, south, east or west you will always arrive at the big roundabout of Phoenix and you will immediately realize that you almost arrived because there is always traffic there (I advise you to avoid rush hours because the road is literally BLOCKED). Once you arrive at the roundabout, you will see the huge building of the Phoenix Beverages, at that point follow the road signs to go south (The South / Curepipe) immediately after leaving the roundabout, you should take the second street on your left where you will notice already marked MGG (Mauritius Glass Gallery).

Entry cost: 100 Rs (entirely donated to charities)

At the entrance they will ask you to pay an entrance fee of 100 Rs (about 2.50 euros), which are donated to charities, so as you will not only see something very interesting but you will also do a good deed! The staff is extremely kind and will quickly explain the things you will visit.

The main entrance and the entrance of the museum are separated by a wall, which I liked very much and is clearly built from recycled bottles of....Coca Cola! The first thing you will see during the visit is the gallery of molded hands of famous personalities divided into different categories: writers, sportsmen and TV personalities. The room is a little dark but gives the right setting to the whole room, in addition to the many hand molds you will also find several glass creations such as chairs, tables and mobile art.

The visit continues in the hall of distorting mirrors. Nothing special, but my mom had a great time in front of the mirrors, I guess if there were a group of kids there they would have stayed in front of every mirror for several hours laughing. Leaving the corridor of mirrors you will find yourself in the atelier where you will see the most interesting part of the museum.

Here you will see the glassworkers in action and you will be impressed of how the guys manipulate the glass, it looks so simple as children with the clay but in reality it isn't.

Working the glass is a real art, you must have a deep knowledge of the material you are working, very good and strong lungs and not suffer the heat for sure! The manufacturing process is very interesting, they put the piece of glass in a special oven where it is melted but not completely and then put on a sort of giant straw where the person starts blowing inside to blow up the piece of glass creating a little balloon and with iron pliers they start to create the desired shape.

I loved so much to see the process and immediately I wanted to be a glass artist too!

We saw the creation of a swan and I would have liked to stay all day to see how many beautiful things can be created!

At the end of the visit you will find the shop where you can buy the creations of the Mauritius Glass Gallery artists. Not only local souvenirs but also home decoration, plates, glasses, bottles and above all... the famous Phoenix mug ( that costs 395 Rupees that I have been looking to buy since a long long time (you can also have your name engraved on it with additional 50 Rs.)