www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Stained Glass Windows

Blessed be God Forever!

Are stained glass windows a tradition of the
Byzantine churches?

Were stained glass windows used in the Church
of Hagia Sophia?

Paul

"Are stained glass windows a tradition of the
Byzantine churches?"

In the representational form, not really, no. But they are present in a number of them -- Catholic and Orthodox as well. I'm not an enthusiastic supporter of cross-ritual fertilization, but I don't find anything alarming about stained glass windows.

"Were stained glass windows used in the Church
of Hagia Sophia?"

Not in the representational form, no. The entire interior was, by contrast, covered with iconographic mosaics, some of which are fortunately still discernable today.

NO.

Hello All,

Thank you for your replies.

Brendan please explain what you mean by "representational form?"

I did a little amateur research on the web
and turned up a paper that states,

"Excavations and restoration work at the Zeyrek Mosque, former Byzantine Church of Pantocrator, carried out by the American Institute of Byzantine Studies in Istanbul in the 1960s revealed fragments of Byzantine stained glass. This first example of its kind probably dates from the 10th or 11th centuries following the iconoclastic period."

http://www.turkey.org/news/0216po31.htm

If this is accurate, it is possible that stained
glass, in some form, was used in Byzantine
churches. What form of stained glass do you think
it was?

In Christ,

Paul

Paul --

It's possible, perhaps even likely, that stained glass (ie, coloured glass) was used in some Byzantine churches. However, it was not representational, meaning that the glass was not depicting figures, but was simply colored glass.

Brendan

Guys, guys . . .

The Rumanian Orthodox Church has an old tradition of stained glass iconography that I've seen and there are some books with pictures of these as well.

I don't think this tradition went beyond the Rumanian Church (and it was developed by Ukie immigrants to Rumania).

Alex

Alex,

First of all, welcome back. I trust you are rested.

I am familiar with what I have heard referred to as "reverse glass painting." This is painting done on smooth glass (1 piece, not pieces joined) but the painting is done on the back of the glass so that one looks thru the glass at the image as opposed to the image being on top of the glass. This makes the painting technique somewhat tricky. Instead of highligts being applied last as in Byzantine Iconography they must be applied first...what is in the forefront of the image is what is painted first instead of last. I hope that is clear .

Is that what you mean? I have seen this kind of painting done in NE Slovakia as well.

Bob

Dear Bob,

I'm still on vacation, but is there any better way to spend it than by visiting on this Forum?

And I beg your forgiveness for my comments on another thread. As I told Lemko, I will be more sensitive in future.

Yes, that is what I mean and that technique is beautiful.

A popular subject is the "Akhtyrska" Mother of God of Sorrows that I've seen in at least one icon book I've come across.

Alex

Check this out!

http://www.artukraine.com/exhibitions/revglass/skolozdra1.htm

djs

Alex --

That's interesting. I don't doubt what you've written, but I didn't see any of it in Bucharest. It could be that it is more of a local tradition to the north and northeastern areas of the country, rather than Wallachia, where the churches I saw were all pretty traditionally Byzantine, with the addition of some external iconography on the exterior of the church, or on the "porch" (one of the most common features of Wallachian churches) .. something which seems more common in Romania than elsewhere, and which is also reflected in the so-called "painted monasteries" of the Bukovina in the Northeast (never been there, unfortunately ... my taxi driver in Bucharest was berating me for not taking an extra day or two to visit Iasi and Moldavia, but time is indeed a limited resource).

Brendan