The birth of crystallography as a science dates back to the end of 18-th century. During the 19-th century the formal mathematical description of crystals based on symmetry of crystals was developed and at the end of the century the theory of the crystal structure was well established but there was little evidence for the existence of translational symmetry in crystals. This evidence was provided by the X-ray diffraction experiment of Laue, Friedrich and Knipping in 1912. A year later Braggs, father and son, showed that X-ray diffraction on crystals can be used to determine positions of atoms within a crystal. These discoveries led to breakthroughs in several scientific disciplines and mark the dawn of modern crystallography. The International Year of Crystallography that is celebrated in 2014 (IYCr2014) commemorates the centennial of these important events. To illustrate development of crystallography the lecture will be divided into three parts: a) crystallography before the Laue experiment b) contribution of Laue and Braggs discoveries to the modern development of the natural sciences, c) the future of X-ray crystallography.