Stained glass was an important artistic technique used in Gothic cathedrals between the 1100s-1500s. It allowed light to illuminate the naves with transformed, sacred light. Stained glass windows symbolized the relationship between light and the divine. They were made by cutting colored glass, leading it into designs, and firing the pieces. The Cathedral of Leon has one of the largest and most complete collections of medieval stained glass windows in the world, with over 737 windows total divided between its rosettes, high windows, and windows at the head and feet.

1. GOTHIC STAINED GLASS

2. Light is one of the most important features in a
Gothic Cathedral. It makes the naves illuminate
with a transformed light, when passing through
the colored glass. That isn’t a closing element, it´s
part of the creation of a sacred and mysterious
environment.

3. With this environment it´s possible to link the church
to the divine. The relationship of light, with the
celestial, is something that has always been present,
in both Christianity and other religions, for example,
Ra is the Egyptian sun god, Helios in Greece,
Heimdall in North mythology, etc.
RA HELIOS

4. During the Gothic period and the
Renaissance (1100s–1500s), stained glass
(vidrieras) was one of the main techniques
of painting, practised in Europe.

5. The specific origin is unknown, but we could put as a
point of reference, the countries of the Eastern Europe,
influenced by Byzantine mosaics. Some of the first
stained glass windows, of which we have knowledge,
are actually small structures similar to mosaics, but
translucent. The oldest preserved stained glass are
dated before the year 1000.

6. TRADITIONAL STAINED GLASS TECHNIQUE
It consists of three indispensable elements: glass, leaded
(emplomado, una estructura hecha de plomo) and paint.
Glass is the functional element, it protects the interior of
the cathedral from the weather effect. The leaded is the
structural part, keeping the whole together and paint is
the decorative part of the whole.

7. The first step is to draw a picture of what you want to
represent, in the window (whether figurative or
geometric, on a cardboard). The drawing must be
designed and made in a way that it's perfectly
compatible with the use of glass and leads (plomos).
According to the
manuscripts of the time,
the final draw would be
made on a table that
marked the shape of the
glass, its color, the lines
of the leaded, even who
belonged to perform
each work . The glasses
were cut with hot irons,
later the diamond tip
(punta) began to be used
to perfect the cut. Then
each one was painted,
according to the color
indicated for it.

8. Once the paint is applied to the glass, the piece is
introduced into the oven, at a temperature of
600ºC. When you have all the glasses in the set,
you proceed to its union, which was made with
lead bars.

9. SOME KINDS OF STAINED GLASS ACCORDING TO ITS SHAPE
• Rosette: So called by the similarity to a rose. It is a Marian symbol, for
its purity. It stood at the feet of the cathedrals. It acquired, in addition,
other symbolic meanings, in relation to the light of the sun and the
light of Christ. The art of the stained glass window reaches its pick,
because it means at the same time the cycles of the cosmos, of eternal
time and of the mystery of God.
• Ojival window: they end in an arch of the same name.
• Lancet: it has a long shape, ending in an arc.
ROSETTE
OJIVAL
LANCET

10. STAINED GLASS OF THE CATHEDRAL OF LEON
The Cathedral of Leon is considered, by certain art experts
as the Cathedral with the largest array of medieval
stained glass windows, over the world. Its construction
began during the second half of the 13th century. It was
built to replace a Romanesque church, that occupied the
site of some 2nd century Roman baths.
Of Spain's Gothic cathedrals, that of Leon is the most
heavily influenced by the French Gothic style.

11. At first, when entering the Cathedral, the visitor observes
an explosion of color. He just sees the abundant color,
looks where he looks. The oldest stained glass windows,
belonging to S. XIII, are mostly those of the head of the
Cathedral, which is the first thing that begins to be built,
thanks to the work of several master craftsmen of a guild.
The most modern are from the first half of the 19th
century.

12. Stained glass of the Cathedral of Leon, are divided
into 3 rosettes, 31 high windows, 34 windows in
the head and 21 windows in the feet, which are a
total of 737 stained glass windows.
It is impossible to expose in a short time, the
History, the content, the dating and the state of each
window, because it is one of the most complete
collections of the Medieval world.

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JAIME BLANCO
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