Exactly 735 years ago today, on November 8, 1291, the Republic of Venice passed a law confining its growing glassmaking industry to the island of Murano — a decision that gave birth to one of the city's most iconic traditions.

According to Good News Network, exports began the following century and the island became famous first for glass beads and mirrors. Aventurine glass was invented there, and for a time Murano was the main producer of glass in all of Europe.

What began as practical output — cups, bowls, lamps and chandeliers — has gradually shifted toward the fine art world, with chandeliers becoming works of sculpture and sculptures becoming masterpieces.

Good News Network's reporting highlights how physically demanding the tradition remains: once a Murano artisan starts a piece, they cannot stop until it is finished, even if that means 16 hours of continuous work.

Neither the artisan nor the glass can be allowed to cool too far from the incredible heat of the furnaces, or the molten glass will no longer be shapable.

That a craft requiring such stamina and unbroken concentration has now entered the fine art world — commanding prices flexible enough to absorb Europe's high energy costs — is the story's warm reversal, turning a threatened workshop economy into a resilient one.

The most striking proof of the art-form's rise, per Good News Network, is glass artisan Adriano Berengo of Studio Berengo, who has staged several exhibitions made in collaboration with the famous Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.

Their creations include a massive chandelier of bones — a blackened cast modeling of Murano glass that stands as the largest sculpture in the history of the artform.

Good News Network also notes the craft's practical side remains alive, with the same furnaces still producing everyday pieces while the finer works merit costs flexible enough to absorb higher natural gas prices in Europe.

The economics matter as much as the artistry.

Because the furnaces run on natural gas, Europe's energy prices have pressed hard on traditional workshops, and Good News Network reports that Murano glass artwork is now a more sensible business model for artisans, since the high prices fine pieces command can absorb those energy costs.

A 735-year-old craft surviving not by shrinking, but by upgrading from applied art to gallery masterpieces, is a rare kind of good news: heritage preserved precisely by aiming higher.

Murano's milestone lands on a date rich with uplifting history.

Both Good News Network and Daily Kos note that on November 8, 1793, the French Revolutionary government opened the Louvre to the public as a museum — a re-purposed 13th-century fortress that Daily Kos calls an absolute bucket-list destination.

The same date also brought the Bodleian Library's permanent reopening at Oxford in 1602, its treasures including Tolkien manuscripts, one of the four surviving copies of the Magna Carta and a Gutenberg first edition.

Murano's artisans, still working with fire in their hands, belong comfortably in that company.