The islands of Murano and Burano in the Venetian Lagoon are proud of their own cultural roots and of the ways in which they preserve their own lifestyle. Murano, which is famous for glass features design stores of the most elite glass brands in the world - Venini, Barovier & Toso, Pauly, Seguso, as well as the oldest glass factory established in 1866 and still active today. There is also the Glass Museum, located in Palazzo Giustinian which follows the history of glassmaking, starting from the time when Venice attracted the finest glass craftsmen from the East, especially from Syria. The Murano story begins in 1292 when the glass making industry was moved from Venice to Murano for safety reasons to prevent the kilns from starting fires in Venice which at the time had mostly wooden buildings. It was then that Murano developed into a rich village, where many Venetian aristocrats build magnificent palaces. True Murano glass is made from silica extracted from the Cogòli del Tesìn basin. It is world renowned as the purest and most clear glass to be found anywhere on earth. The most beautiful examples of the Murano glass makers' art the exquisitely made murrines. Murrine are still made by hand in the same way they were made in centuries past, and the shear quality and work involved justifies the high price for what is, in all respects, a work of art.