They are a background to devotion in that as the eye moves around the building either during worship or at times of visits, the window fixes the eye of the observer and guides the mind back to God through the story being told. They teach through their words and figures, they decorate and please the eye of the beholder and above all they provide a fitting background to the worship of the church. The main purpose of painting pictures in coloured glass was to tell a story and to keep the building water tight and let light in.
Stained glass design policy windows#
These magnificent stained glass windows have a number of important functions to fulfil. At Canterbury the story of their local saint, Thomas Becket, becomes interwoven with stories from the Bible. You see this most strongly in the wonderful windows in the choir of Canterbury Cathedral and in other buildings. Thus in the medieval period great stories of famous characters in the Bible were interspersed with local heroes and saints. In other words the artist and designer reflected the ideas most prominent at that time. As the church grew in its understanding of peoples’ needs and abilities so the way in which the images in churches were depicted and adapted to suit the particular theological emphases of the age. Thus the artist and craftsmen worked closely with the priest and donor to portray truths from scripture and stories of the saints in a way understandable by all ages and in a wide variety of visual images. The whole building would have been alive with images depicting the Christian story and other biblical scenes. As well as in brick and stone using carvings, and on walls using painted murals, there were tapestries and embroideries. When much of the population could not read and write our cathedrals and churches used every means available to make known the good news of Jesus Christ in every way possible. The use of stained glass in the windows of churches goes back a very long time. It might be helpful to set modern glass in the context of its historical development so we begin with that information. Normally the procedure falls within the remit of the Diocesan Advisory Committee for the Care of Churches (DAC) and is first handled in a parish by its Parochial Church Council (PCC). The process by which the design of a window is decided and the legal way in which the window receives permission to be placed in the building, is explained in this document. Some modern glass is held together by a concrete formula and has thicker joining areas. When all the component pieces of glass are ready they are held together by strips of lead, which keep them in place and then, in sections, are placed within a window to form one complete stained glass window. Stained glass describes the method by which small pieces of coloured glass are painted and fired in a kiln to make the paint permanent with the glass surface. The selection of new stained glass windows What is stained glass?