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MEDIEVAL STAINED GLASS GLASSES, TECHNOLOGY FEATURES

Updated: Aug 6

Stained glass windows of the Middle Ages had their own characteristics - glass defects in the form of uneven thickness, lumpiness, and roughness. Grains of undissolved sand and air bubbles remained inside the glass fragments. Such errors in medieval glass only enhanced the play of color, refracting the incident light. Skilled stained glass masters skillfully used these imperfections of glass and achieved amazing textured colors in their creations.



  • Stained Glass in the Middle Ages
  • Stained Glass in the Middle Ages
  • Stained Glass in the Middle Ages
  • Stained Glass in the Middle Ages


In the early Middle Ages, stained glass windows were made from glass painted in rich, pure colors. The most commonly used colors were yellow, white, purple, red, green and their shades. To obtain a wider range of tones, stained glass artists used laminated glass, placing plates of different colors on top of each other. Laminated glass helped overcome the limitations of existing production methods at the time: for example, dense red glass was too dark and did not transmit light, so craftsmen applied a thin layer of red glass to a clear or yellow base. Separate sections of the top layer were ground so that the bottom layer of colored glass appeared. For example, some of the stained glass windows at Chartres Cathedral have sections of 27 layers of red and clear glass. Passing through such a thickness of laminated glass, the light acquires unique color nuances. Thanks to this, the stained glass windows of Gothic churches were compared to jewelry. Exceptional Feature, 2000 sq. meters of stained glass, Chartres Cathedral lies in the purity and richness of colors, the secret of obtaining which has been lost. There are no analogues of the shade of blue stained glass of the Chartres Cathedral, which make it famous and popular for numerous tourists, in any cathedral in the world. The images on the stained glass windows of Chartres Cathedral are characterized by an extraordinary breadth of themes: scenes from the Old and New Testaments, scenes from the lives of prophets, kings, knights, artisans and even peasants. Making stained glass remained an extremely slow process and was always particularly expensive, so stained glass was designed and produced gradually.

Medieval stained glass: manufacturing techniques. Article about medieval stained glass. How stained glass was made. How stained glass is made. What is needed to create stained glass? What is used to paint with stained glass paints.

Stained glass Chartres Cathedral Stained glass 13th century

Medieval stained glass: manufacturing techniques. Article about medieval stained glass. How stained glass was made. How stained glass is made. What is needed to create stained glass? What is used to paint with stained glass paints.

Chartres Cathedral, VIII on horseback

Medieval stained glass: manufacturing techniques. Article about medieval stained glass. How stained glass was made. How stained glass is made. What is needed to create stained glass? What is used to paint with stained glass paints.

Chartres Cathedral, window 107c future Louis VIII on horseback

Chartres Cathedral
Medieval stained glass: manufacturing techniques. Article about medieval stained glass. How stained glass was made. How stained glass is made. What is needed to create stained glass? What is used to paint with stained glass paints.

Chartres Cathedral, Northern Rose circa 1210


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