From its humble beginnings as a vision fueled by passion and creativity, Crystal Castle has grown into an awe-inspiring destination unlike anything else on earth – a place of irreplicable beauty and home to magnificent giant crystals.
As 1985 came to a close, Naren King, the founder of Crystal Castle, was invited to a New Year’s Eve celebration in a stunning and unique building nestled in the Byron Bay hinterland of northern New South Wales in Australia.
Designed by the visionary architect Edwin Kingsbury, the building embodied his concept of ‘harmonious architecture.’ It featured a central round structure with four radiating wings, no 90 degree angles, and a series of enchanting reflecting ponds.
Remarkably, this building was situated at the precise point where the earth’s energy lines, or ley lines, intersect. Today, this very intersection is home to the gravity-defying Fountain of Peace.
In 1980, owner Mal Cooper had spared no expense in sourcing the finest materials from around the region to build the property, ultimately driving him to financial ruin. Entranced by the property’s unique beauty and Byron Bay’s unique appeal, Naren King set his sights on making it his own.
Despite facing five rejections from the banks, as he had no assets or savings to his name, Naren’s determination never wavered. His persistence finally paid off when a Harley-Davidson-riding bank manager was drawn to the bold vision Naren had for a crystal business.
The property became lovingly known by locals as ‘The Castle’ and Naren launched a crystal-selling business called ‘Crystalight.’
At the time, much of the land had been cleared for grazing and banana farming, and its dam was dry and desolate – yet a new chapter was about to begin.
Crystalight was Australia’s first direct importer of high-quality natural crystals from around the world, supplying wholesale crystals from the Byron Shire hinterland.
The locals quickly took notice of the intriguing business and began ‘dropping in’ to admire the crystals. Soon, the Byron Bay Visitor Centre started sending tourists with the recommendation to ‘try to get in.’
As interest grew, the ‘Crystal Castle,’ as it had come to be known, opened for limited public trading, beginning with a small shop, a single cake, and a large pot of tea. Visitors loved spending time surrounded by such beauty, and before long, a café was built to offer them refreshments.
Naren has spent over 40 years traveling the globe in search of extraordinary crystals. At one point, so much rose quartz had been imported that it was used to line the pathways around Crystal Castle, inspiring the design and creation of lush gardens.
The development of Crystal Castle has continued for Naren and his wife, Sono. Over the years, the gardens have expanded dramatically, and new attractions like the Crystal Labyrinth, the Kalachakra Stupa for World Peace, the irreplaceable Enchanted Cave and Crystal Guardians, the children’s playground, Buddha Walk, Damanhur Spiral, Giant Treasure Chest have been added.
Each new addition is inspired by the same passion that led to that visionary purchase nearly 40 years ago: a deep desire to create a place of peace, magic, lasting beauty, and wonder.
The journey to bring the extraordinary crystals you see in the beautiful grounds of the Crystal Castle is at times a rough and unbelievable quest.
Early in 2016, having heard whispers of some amazing new discoveries, Naren and his daughter Manya embarked on an epic journey to South America, inspired by Naren’s decades long dream of acquiring and sharing the largest crystals in the world.
After five days, six flights and some really long drives, they arrived in the amethyst fields of Uruguay to visit some special crystal geode sites.
After having procured the largest geodes in the world, they then discovered an amazing amethyst cave.
The journey continued north to Bahia and Ceara in Brazil, with gruelling 18-hour days travelling at high speeds along sandy goat tracks in 40 degree heat, following up leads on small mines the farmers were working on their dry lands. Sometimes they came to dead ends, other times finding such wonders as a rose quartz wall.
Naren had found the area to be one of the poorest parts of Brazil and the small crystal discoveries support some economic growth for the subsistence farming villagers trying to live off land covered in rough quartz.
Dodging security issues and venomous snakes, they descended by a thin rope into a crystal mine with smoky ‘jacare’ (crocodile shaped quartz) that we call Elestial Quartz and then later found farmer Pedro in a very poor area, who has found a rich vein of ‘dogtooth’ or Chevron amethyst. Naren was amazed to see white and purple banded stone, that ran in parts like a small river.
The result of this incredible journey was finding the world-unique Enchanted Cave and Crystal Guardians, which were then brought back to Australia.
From nearly 40 years ago: our vision to create a place of peace, magic, lasting beauty, and wonder is only growing.
Crystal Castle Founder Naren King shares the story of how he brought the impossible to life in creating this magical sanctuary.
