by Carol H. Morgan

Created on: May 14, 2008   Last Updated: July 07, 2008

People in the middle ages didn't get to see stories brought to life with visual effects like video or photography. In fact there wasn't really even very much quality drawing or painting. Stained glass came closer than anything else to creating the effects of these impressive visuals that were to come later. Even those that were unable to read the sacred texts for themselves could go to the magnificent Gothic structures and see them brought to life in the brilliant soaring walls of the town church of cathedral. Stained glass was therefore a very important aspect of Gothic architecture and more broadly symbolic of Medieval life, a brilliant and glorious outlet suggesting something better to come past the gloomy and dark enclosure that was this earthly life.

STAINED GLASS AS A CRAFT

Stained glass making was an ancient art form, even at the time of its important place in Gothic architecture. The specifics of its rise to prominence are lost to history, the potential reached a zenith in the high Middle Ages, specifically the twelfth and to fourteenth thirteenth centuries. One advantage to the medium is that if a window is unbroken it will last nearly forever, it doesn't fade and artwork crafted in stained glass will last in near perpetuity unlike any other artwork before or since.

Stained glass making as a craft was perfected during the Gothic period but likely the use began much earlier. Its use was probbably developed in jewelry and mosaics. In fact it is quite possible that a flashing techniqe was developed to use intense colors as an attempt to produce fake or reproduction jewels. Flashing let light penetrate the glass and bounce around inside to intensify the color.

The techniques of making the stained glass itself, before its employment in windows, are little changed over nearly a millennium. As glass is heated and then gradually cooled it assumes properties of both liquid and solid, reaching a consistency rather like taffy. In addition to the potential of varied shapes, it was eventually discovered that certain metals added to the glass would block out parts of the light spectrum, leaving one of the frequencies rather than all of them as in clear glass does.

DEVELOPMENT OF STAINED GLASS WINDOWS

Stained glass windows were actually some of the earliest kind of window, as they were not really practical for residences or other buildings for many more centuries after they were initially employed in stained glass that was initially for religious and decorative purposes

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