Swarovski Crystal World
It's said the this place is the second most visited site in all of Austria after Schönbrunn Palace. What's surprising is that after shopping at their factory store there's any money left to visit anywhere else! Crystal Worlds is the showplace of Swarovski AG the famous Austrian maker of fine crystal. 

At the end of the 19th century Daniel Swarovski, from Bohemia invented a machine that could cut crystal stones with precision and consistency. Moving with his family to Wattens in the Austrian Tyrol he established a factory originally powered by water. In 1948 Swarovski Optics is founded by Wilhelm Swarovski a son of the company founder. Today besides their beautiful crystal creations they make the best binoculars that money can buy. But rest assured money will buy these precision instruments ... lots of it, so don't come to the museum without any money as you will be sorely tempted.

The town of Wattens is on the autobahn to Innsbruck just before you reach the larger city. How do you explain Crystal Worlds? Well in the words of the company ... "This collection of rooms, designed and built under the meticulous direction of world famous multi-media artist, André Heller, was created to astonish and amuse its viewers." If you were expecting a dry dissertation on the making of crystal and its use in jewelry and optics you will be disappointed but on the other hand if you come with an open mind then you will be treated to a visual feast.