Glassmaking

Glass windows appeared in Lithuania during the reign of Mindaugas. And for another 300 years after Mindaugas, only the richest people could afford them.  In the 16th century Bishop Jonas owned a manufactory shop in Vilnius, but being the priest and the glassmaker's job did not go well together, so he passed on his manufactory to a glassmaker from Poland. That manufactory was located near the Green Bridge, on the banks of the Neris. That Polish craftsman had to deliver glasses and glass for the windows to the bishop. The workshop flourished, and even received the privilege of Sigismund II Augustus, and had to make glasses for him. This monopolist was especially disliked by the merchants who secretly sold Prussian and Polish glass. At the end of his life, the Polish craftsman donated the business to the city of Vilnius.