Light as Art

Gothic stained glass windows functioned as projected paintings. At Sainte-Chapelle in Paris (1248), the upper chapel is essentially a glass box — 15 windows, each 50 feet tall, depicting over 1,100 biblical scenes. On a sunny day, the interior drowns in colored light that moves across the floor as the sun shifts.

The glass itself was colored by adding metallic oxides during manufacturing: cobalt for blue, copper for red, manganese for purple. Each piece was cut, painted with details, and assembled with lead strips called cames. A single window could take a workshop years to complete.