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Stained Glass Windows By: Christine Meister - GMS

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The Egyptians discovered glass while making their containers or vessels, the first people to do so. They used the glass to make beads in 2700 BC. The Romans first used stained glass windows in their homes during the first century AD. Palaces and mosques in the Middle East had stained glass windows. St. Paul’s Monastery in Jarrow, England has some of the oldest pieces of  stained glass windows. They date back to 686 AD. Five stained glass windows from the @Middle Ages depict the Old Testament Prophets. The art of making stained glass windows had almost been forgotten in the 1600’s. In the 1800’s people regained interest in it again. ("History of Stained Glass.") ("Stained Glass Windows.")

How Was Stained Glass Invented?

People do not know exactly how stained glass windows had been invented, but one legend from Pliny the Elder tells it. The legend recounts the accidental discovery of glass by his Phoenician sailors. It says that shipwrecked sailors put their cooking pots on blocks of natron (soda) from their cargo and then built a fire under it on the beach. In the morning, the fire’s heat had melted the sand and soda mixture. The mass had cooled and hardened into glass. Today, people agree it to be more scientifically correct that Egyptians discovered glass while firing their vessels. (“The History of Stained Glass Windows.”) How is Stained Glass Made?

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Stained glass windows have been made of painted or tinted glass that forms a picture, held together by strips of lead in a rigid frame. Most of the knowledge about medieval stained glass making comes from a twelfth century German monk who called himself Theophilus. An artist and metalworker himself, Theophilus described in one of his texts how he carefully studied glaziers and glass painters at work in order to provide detailed directions for creating windows of “inestimable beauty.” Two standard Gothic shapes of stained glass window can be found in churches, the tall window with the pointed arch and the round rose window. In the middle 1000’s through the early 1100’s, the strips of lead had been shaped into bars that formed rectangular pieces. In the 1200’s they started creating round windows, called rose windows. The glass gets colored by mixing metal oxides with the molten glass during smelting. ("How Products are Made.")======

When and Where Was Stained Glass Used? The stained-glass windows had been used in churches in Western Europe during the Middle Ages because it increased their beauty. They have mainly been found in Gothic churches. The Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, a medieval catholic cathedral made in the 13th century, has famous stained glass rose windows showing the french gothic @architecture. The Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres, another example of a gothic catholic cathedral, holds one of the most complete collections of medieval stained glass in the world. About 160 stained glass windows survived the religious wars of the 16th century undamaged. ("Chartres Cathedral.") ("Gothic Sculpture and Stained Glass Windows: Characteristics & Style.") Why Was Stained Glass Used? Stained glass windows added beauty and provided narrative information to those who looked at them. Stained glass windows can often be found in churches, a place of religious narrative and learning, during the middle ages. Since very few people could read at the time, the stained glass windows showed scenes of the Bible, not in words but in light. It made a strong impression on the people that went there. ("The New Book of Knowledge.") (“Stained Glass in Medieval Europe.”)

How was Stained Glass Preserved? Painted glass often presents serious preservation challenges. If fired improperly, or if poor quality mixtures had been used, painted glass may be vulnerable to weathering and condensation. Several steps in the painting process can produce fragile paint that may likely end up flaking. If applied too thick, the paint may not fuse properly to the glass, leaving small bubbles on the surface. This condition, sometimes called “frying,” can also result from poor paint mixtures. In American stained glass, unfortunately, the enamels had been fired at too low a temperature, which causes the most difficult features to replicate—faces, hands and feet—to flake away first. In Europe in the 1930's, w hen war loomed, the windows from several churches had been taken apart piece by piece and stored in safe places. After the war, the windows had been carefully put back whenever possible. The medieval stained glass windows of the Lichfield Cathedral in England originally came from a Belgian abbey. The Germans in World War ll spared them because the church's three spires (pointed towers) acted as a highly recognizable navigational point of no return for the German airplanes: if the airplanes flew any further they would not have enough fuel to return. In 2016, after a major renovation, this church had its priceless medieval windows cleaned and refitted in new zinc frames. The stained glass windows had then been re-installed inside double glass to preserve them and to better insulate the church. (“The Preservation and Repair of Historic Stained and Leaded Glass.”) Works Cited “The History of Stained Glass Windows.” American Vision Windows, Bill, 2 Oct. 2015. [|]

"History of Stained Glass." Stained Glass Association of America. Richard, 2012. Web.
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“The Preservation and Repair of Historic Stained and Leaded Glass.” Technical Preservation Services. Neal A. Vogel and Rolf Achilles, Oct. 2007. Web
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“Stained Glass in Medieval Europe.” Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.
__ [|<] [|http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/glas/hd_glas.htm>]__ "Chartres Cathedral." Sacred Destinations. Holly Hayes, n.d. Web.__ [|]

"The New Book of Knowledge." Stained-Glass Windows ed. New York City: Jane Hayward, 2016. Web. Art History.
[|<][|http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3754175>]

"Gothic Sculpture and Stained Glass Windows: Characteristics & Style." Study.com. Max Pfingsten, n.d. Web.
[|<] [|http://study.com/academy/lesson/gothic-sculpture-and-stained-glass-windows-characteristics-style.html>]

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“Stained Glass Windows.” World Book. 2001. Print.

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