Chandeliers Around the World

Chandeliers have a long history throughout Europe, and there is evidence of their use there since medieval times. Today, chandeliers (Kronleuchter) can be found all over the world, from Asia through to South America. They are one of the most enduring forms of lighting fixture in the entire world, and still represent luxury and refinement in many countries. For example, there is a light gilded French Empire chandelier inside the Red Room of the White House in America, and an Islamic inspired chandelier at Al-Azhar Park at Cairo in Egypt.

While they may have once been associated purely with European wealth and nobility, the chandelier form today transcends these geographical limitations and represents the qualities of refinement, luxury, and sophistication all around the world. One of the best examples of the international appeal of the chandelier is echoed in the Guinness World Records, which lists the largest chandelier in the world as one in an office building in Doha, Qatar. Other famous examples of chandeliers around the world include a modern design at the Lighting Design Gallery in Asia, a very modern contemporary chandelier made of rock crystal in Minneapolis in Minnesota, and the famous chandelier of bones and skulls in Sedlec Osuary, Czech Republic.

Some other famous chandeliers around the world include one that was owned by Elvis Presley, and can still be found in his Graceland dining room. However, perhaps the most famous chandelier of them all can be found not in a home, a palace, or even in a church, but in a theatre. Andrew Lloyd Webber's world famous chandelier crash scene from the Phantom of the Opera is one of the most memorable uses of a chandelier in popular culture, and goes to show that people are just as fascinated today by chandeliers as they ever have been in the past.