Saint-Gobain is a multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in France. Originally a glassmaking company, it now also manufactures a variety of structural and high-performance materials.

The Compagnie de Saint-Gobain was founded in 1665 when King Louis XIV wanted to build a new palace to be located in the French countryside, outside Paris, in a town called Versailles. Louis's Minister of Economy, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, was appointed to construct the facility and display various new technologies in the new palace. One of the technologies to be presented was glass.

At the time, the French did not possess glassmaking capabilities; rather Venice was known as the world leader for glass manufacturing. Colbert then commissioned the Venetians to buid the mirrors that were known as the "Hall of Mirrors". This was the beginning of the Compagnie de Saint-Gobain.

Today, Saint-Gobain is a world leader in Engineered Materials. Through three business sectors; Glass, Building Products and High Performance Materials, Saint-Gobain operates throughout the world with sales of more than $30 billion.

External link

• Saint-Gobain group website

Saint-Gobain is also a commune of the Aisne département, in northern France.