Artificial eyes made of glass have a long tradition     The existence of eye protheses was described with text and illustrations by the French surgeon Ambroise Pare for the first time in the 16th century. At that time there were 3 different kinds of eye prothese: Eyes worn over the eyelids They were fixed by means of steel springs worn arround the head Gold and silver bowls, enamelled (oval shape) Glass eye (oval shape, reverse side coated with lead) In the middle of the 17th century Paris became the centre of the manufacture of artificial human eyes made of glass. The manufacturers probably came from Venice.In 1835 Ludwig Müller-Uri from Lauscha developed the first German artificial eye made of glass. Arround 1870 the so-called cryolite glass, which is still used nowadays, was invented for the manufacture of artificial eyes.