The company is situated in the market town of Turnov, the bustling centre of a well-known region called the "Czech Paradise". The region has always been rich in resources of semi-precious stones, and so it is not surprising that the gem cutting industry had a very long tradition in the region. However, in the mid-thirties, when the growing of synthetic crystals by the Verneuil method became common, these natural materials began to face strong competition. The necessity to distinguish natural gems from the synthetic stones resulted in a foundation of the "Research Group for Analysis of Gem" in Turnov in 1935.
The focus of this research group slowly changed from analytical to more industrial application. Growth of corundum, rutil and spinel had already started before the beginning of World War II. In 1943 the group was transformed into the "Research Institute for Gems", supported by the work of the excellent scientists Dr. Jezek, Dr. Ondrej and Dr. Kaspar. Further developments followed, and in the late-forties the research concentrated on the mechanical applications of synthetic crystals. Typical products at the time were sapphire bearings, sapphire gramophone needless, and sapphire matrices for textile fibres. In the fifties, under the new name " Research Institute for Minerals", the institute focused on synthetic quartz and corundum, and applications of materials such as quartz fibres, etc. Technologies and methods of crystal growth from solutions, melts, solutions of melts, and hydrothermal synthesis were implemented for the first time. KBr, NaCl and KCl crystals found their application in the UV and IR optics production. Scintillators, such as NaI:Tl and CsI:Tl, were also among the developed single crystals.
In the sixties the name was changed once again, to "Research Institute for Single Crystals", and then later to the more simple "Monokrystaly" (that means "Single Crystals" in Czech). Crystal growth was the main area of activity. Many of the new materials from research and development reached the stage of industrial production. The activities during this period included single crystal quartz industrial production, crystal personal dosimeters, silicon p-i-n gamma ray detectors, ruby based laser rods, synthetic mica, synthetic garnets, thermoluminescent dosimetric materials LiF and CaF2, Czochralski methods of growth of sapphire, perovskites and garnets based on aluminium and yttrium oxides, etc.
The production of scintillation detectors started in the beginning of the seventies under the trademark "CRYTUR". Since the eighties new scintillation materials like BGO, YAG:Ce and YAP:Ce have been added to the production lines.
The company faced a new economical and political situation in the nineties. Monokrystaly joined Preciosa Co. During this period, the new CeF3 scintillation material was developed at. In 1995, Preciosa Crytur Ltd. was established as a daughter company of Preciosa Co. The new, independent firm CRYTUR Ltd. was created in the year 1998. CRYTUR Ltd. continues in activities of former Monokrystaly in the five main directions: