Stained Glass: The Window in the Church
Images from Hamburg, Germany and KC, Missouri
"The Gothic age produced the great cathedrals of Europe and brought a full
flowering of stained glass windows. Churches became taller and lighter,
walls thinned and stained glass was used to fill the increasingly larger
openings in them. Stained glass became the sun filled world outside. Abbot
Suger of the Abbey of St. Denis rebuilt his church in what is one of the
first examples of the 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's¹ souls closer to God."
Middle Ages, the art of forming mosaics of stained glass in windows
flourished. Though the art had been in use elsewhere, the extravagant and
symbolic use of the windows would see their peak with The Church. The works served several purposes aside from the architectural: First, for a population that was almost wholly illiterate, the depictions of
bible stories would serve as illustrations and lessons for the priests and
bishops to point to during mass. Second, they created a holy ambience that would focus the congregation. The
stained glass would change the color and quality of the light in the knave,
giving what to the peasant would seem an ethereal glow. This created an
atmosphere "primed" for worship, convenient since most of those present
wouldn't understand the latin lessons anyway. Third, symbolically they represented a membrane between the sacred and the
profane. Through the window was the real world. Sin, hate, pain, suffering.
The stained glass was a shield from that into the sanctuary of the church
and instead made the window a symbolic looking glass into the Heavens. Quite a lot of structural and functional utility in such a simple concept.
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