[1] The surrounding region has become known as the Kingdom of Crystal,[2] and is now a tourist site which attracts a million visitors annually.

[citation needed] Kosta Glasbruk was founded in 1742 by two officers in Charles XII's army, Anders Koskull [sv] and Georg Bogislaus Staël von Holstein.

From the 1840s, the factory was at the forefront of new trends and technical developments, producing pressed glass, and in the 1880s setting up a new glass-cutting workshop.

[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][2][1] In the 1950s Vicke Lindstrand, who served as the company's artistic director from 1950 to 1973,[13] commissioned the architect Bruno Mathsson to design several buildings for Kosta.

The latter, known as the Kosta Glashus [sv], was granted legally protected Byggnadsminne 'Building Monument' status by the Swedish National Heritage Board in 2007.