Stained Glass History

The discovery of glass dates back over 4,000 years ago and was made in the Near East in Mesopotamia and Egypt. It became a cheaper substitute for gems and was fashioned into beads and other jewelry. Most of the early glass was opaque and colored. It could be cut and polished easier than precious or semi-precious stones.

Stained glass windows seemed to appear when extensive church building began. Depictions of Christ and biblical scenes were found in churches in France and Germany, by the tenth century. Techniques of stained glass window construction were described by the monk Theophilus who wrote a how to for craftsmen about 1100 AD. "if you want to assemble simple windows, first mark out the dimensions of their length and breadth on a wooden board, then draw scroll work or anything else that pleases you, and select colors that are to be put in. Cut the glass and fit the pieces together with the grozing iron. Enclose them with lead cames and solder on both sides. Surround it with a wooden frame strengthened with nails and set it up in the place where you wish."

Gothic – "stained and painted"; Gothic architecture began with Abbot Suger in the twelfth century. Suger served as the friend and counsellor both of Louis VI and Louis VII. In his description of the ideal church he wanted to fill his Abbey Church of St. Denis, with "the most radiant windows." He urged the king to destroy the feudal bandits and was responsible for the royal tactics in dealing with the communal movements, and endeavored to regularize the administration of justice. He left his abbey, which held considerable property, enriched and embellished by the construction of a new church built in the nascent Gothic style. He brought in craftsmen to make the glass and kept a journal of what was done. He truly believed that the presence of beautiful objects would lift men’s souls closer to God.

Gothic stained glass windows are a complex mosaic of bits of colored glass joined with lead into an intricate pattern illustrating biblical stories and saints lives. When viewed from the ground, the windows appear as an arrangement of black lines and colored light. Men during the medieval era experienced a window more than he read it. It made the church a sacred dwelling place of an all powerful God.

Historical Beginnings

Many say that stained glass is a lost art, however this is not true. There is never a color in glass that can not be duplicated. Technical progress has made it possible to produce an almost infinite number of subtle variations of any basic color. It is not known for sure where stained glass originated, but it is known that the first examples were made to imitate semiprecious stones. Early in the Egyptians history they had colored glass perfume bottles and other jars, even imitation jewels. Glass munufacturing did not take place until the 18th dynasty in Egypt.

Materials needed for the making of glass were on hand, pieces of manufactured glass are still frequently found in the area. The Romans used stained glass for making windows. The Romans learned the ways of glass blowing in the first century of the christian era, they are the first to be able to make glass large enough for a window. Many roman emperors used stained glass for the windows od their castles. There are three main steps leading to the making of stained glass. The first step was the discovery and making of glass and glass material. The second step was the making of stained and regular glass windows. The third and final step was the story and origin of the art of enameling. You can fing many examples of enameling in the Western World. The art of enameling is the process of applying a thin coat of glass in powder form, to medal which when it reaches 1400 degrees fahrenheit it fuses the medal.