STAINED GLASS WINDOWS

Enter Christ Church's sanctuary and experience a window. Choose any one. Feel an aura of holiness created by a mosaic of vivid colors shades. Soak up the velvety glow from a rainbow of jeweled light. Illuminate your mind with the beauty of translucent pictures needing no captions.

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Gothic architecture in 12th century Europe first used stained glass to embellish cathedral windows and illustrate bible scenes to instruct the people. Red and blue central images surrounded by white glass were predominant in the early color palette, while a later trend filled the entire opening with darker glass in varied colors. Using sand transformed by fire, the glass was colored by adding metallic salts and oxides. Cobalt makes blues, silver creates yellows and holds, and copper makes greens and deep red.

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American craftsmen first practiced this art in the 19th century to adorn houses of worship across the country. The atmosphere created by light and color ever changing as the sun follows its path over the church is worthy of a visit on a bright day. This slideshow serves to inspire that visit, by documenting in photographs eighteen magnificent stained glass windows. The sanctuary is a special sacred place, due in part to the dazzling radiance and a comforting warmth, apparent to all who pause to appreciate the splendor of this artistry.