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Rich diamond deposits were discovered in Yakutia, Siberia over fifty years ago. Their incredible potential was quickly understood. The USSR saw, in the treasure of the Yakutia mines, an opportunity to bring Russia's small diamond polishing industry to the forefront of export markets.
But Siberia is vast and remote. Manufacture and trade would inevitably evolve elsewhere.
The historic Russian city of Smolensk, 400 kilometres west of Moscow and the hub of cross-European traffic by land and river for more than a thousand years, was the obvious choice for an integrated cutting center. The Smolensk Kristall factory began in 1963 with a tiny band of skilled men who had been initiated into the craft of diamond cutting in Muscovite workshops.
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