The Waterford Crystal Visitor Centre is the fourth most popular tourist attraction in Ireland, with more than 300,000 visitors last year, many of them from the United States. The Waterford Crystal visitor experience includes a dramatic recreation of the Millennium Eve celebrations in New York’s Times Square, a guided tour through the crystal production process, an 18th century Master Craft Room where master crystal-makers have the opportunity, the time, and the space to explain their craft, and the Waterford Crystal Gallery, a special retail store that contains the widest selection of Waterford Crystal in the world as well as a wide range of other products. Waterford Crystal was first established in 1783 in the Irish harbor town of Waterford. Its founders were two brothers, William and George Penrose, who were important developers and principal exporters in the city. Their vision was to "create the finest quality crystal for drinking vessels and objects of beauty for the home." More than 200 years later, the reputation they established for creating glass of unsurpassed beauty and quality has transcended the intervening centuries. Today, Waterford's principal manufacturing plant stands on a 40-acre site on the outskirts of the city made famous by its glittering product. There are also two other manufacturing plants in County Waterford.
