SUNDERLAND.- The National Glass Centre features the exhibit Snowdomes through March 4, 2007. In the early 1800s, French artisans began to perfect the creation of solid glass paperweights embedded artfully with all manner of colourful objects whilst, at the same time, in Central Europe, craftspeople were blowing graceful glass domes to protect and magnify all sorts of items, from religious relics to clockwork movements.

Nearly a decade later an enterprising Parisian manufacturer got the idea of encasing tiny ceramic models of the brand-new Eiffel Tower in palm-sized glass globes, magnified with water and fake snow. Mounting them on ceramic bases, he peddled them as souvenirs of the 1889 Paris Expo. The inexpensive snowdomes sold like hot cakes and marked the beginning of the surge in snowdomes - still ubiquitous in our tourist spots - as travel souvenirs.

This exhibition features an eclectic mix of historical, contemporary and newly commissioned work inspired by these popular treasure-like miniatures and curiosities.

Featuring the Original Snowdome courtesy of Bergstrom Mahler Museum, Wisconsin. With work by: Anne Brodie, Kamini Chahaun, Richard Clegg, Mat Collishaw, Robert Doisneau, David Emerick, Len Horsey, Julian Germain, Simon Woolham, Sarah Woodfine.

A collection of 500 snowdomes from Nancy McMichael displayed in an installation designed by Michael Davies.

Other people's collections of snowdomes: Abigail Branagan, Celia Gilson, Andy and Jenny Ingram, Joy Kirk and Anthony Bevacqua , Tony Sheperd, and Joan Shipley.