THE RADIANT ART OF STAINED GLASS

The term stained glass derives from the silver stain that was often applied to the side of the window that would face the outside of the building. ... Stained glass was usually used to make windows, so that the light would shine through the painting.

Evidence of stained glass windows in churches and monasteries in Britain can be found as early as the 7th century. The earliest known reference dates from 675 AD when Benedict Biscop imported workmen from France to glaze the windows of the monastery of St Peter which he was building at Monkwearmouth.

As a material stained glass is glass that has been coloured by adding metallic salts during its manufacture. The coloured glass is crafted into stained glass windows in which small pieces of glass are arranged to form patterns or pictures, held together (traditionally) by strips of lead and supported by a rigid frame.

During medieval times, stained glass windows were made from a combination of sand and potash (wood ash). ... When put together like pieces of a puzzle, the whole window became stabilized by an iron frame. That's how stained glass windows were made during The Middle Ages.

Stained Glass Windows. ... From pointed arches to rib vaults to flying buttresses, all of these techniques allowed Gothic architecture to replace the thick, dark walls of Romanesque cathedrals with thin, towering walls of colored glass. These stained glass windows were the multimedia stories of their day.

Although traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensional structures and sculpture.

Medieval stained glass is the coloured and painted glass of medieval Europe from the 10th century to the 16th century. ... The purpose of stained glass windows in a church was both to enhance the beauty of their setting and to inform the viewer through narrative or symbolism.

Stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches, mosques and other significant buildings.

Modern vernacular usage has often extended the term "stained glass" to include domestic leadlight and objets d'art created from came glasswork exemplified in the famous lamps of Louis Comfort Tiffany.

Stained glass, as an art and a craft, requires the artistic skill to conceive an appropriate and workable design, and the engineering skills to assemble the piece. A window must fit snugly into the space for which it is made, must resist wind and rain, and also, especially in the larger windows, must support its own weight.

READ MORE ABOUT STAINED GLASS