Who invented glass and where did it happen? History of glass Where different types of glass were produced in ancient times

In the department of the Berlin Museum dedicated to ancient Egyptian culture, a single greenish bead with a diameter of about 9 mm is kept as the greatest treasure. Unprepossessing in appearance, it is indeed a very valuable museum exhibit. This is the oldest glass product known to modern scientists. It is believed that it was made about 5,500 years ago.

The legend, retold by the ancient Roman scientist Pliny, attributes the invention of glass to Phoenician merchants who were transporting soda from Egypt to Mesopotamia and decided to spend the night on the sandy shore. The brought soda mixed with sand and ended up in a fire built by the merchants, and in the morning the Phoenicians discovered pieces of a hitherto unseen substance among the cooled coals.

Some people doubted the authenticity of this legend, but be that as it may, in the oldest centers of human civilization - the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, as well as the Nile Valley, glass was well known and quite widely used already in the 3rd millennium BC. e. Since time immemorial, glass products have also been found in Phoenician cities on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

The most ancient glass was melted over an open fire in clay bowls at a fairly low temperature. Sintered pieces of glass mass were thrown hot into water, causing them to crack into plates, so-called frits. Then the frits were ground into dust with millstones and melted again. In archaeological excavations of ancient and medieval glass workshops, two furnaces are usually found, one for pre-melting, the other for melting frits.

Obtained in an ancient way, on an open fire the substance came out cloudy, viscous and difficult to mold. It was suitable only for the manufacture of small objects: beads, amulets, rough small figurines. Later, small bottles for incense began to be made from glass. The blowing technique was not yet known; hollow vessels were made in the following way: a clay or sand mold mounted on a metal rod was repeatedly dipped into the molten glass mass, then the surface was smoothed by rolling and friction, and the core was carefully scraped out after cooling. The oldest surviving vessel made in this way is the bowl of Pharaoh Thutmose III, now kept in the Munich Museum. It dates back to 1450 BC. e. The first written instructions for glass production known to scientists were created around 650 BC. These are tablets with instructions on how to make glass, which were in the library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (669 - 626 BC).

At the turn of the new era, a revolution occurred in glassmaking. In the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire, they began to build high-temperature glass melting furnaces, which made it possible to melt a glass mass of much higher quality, in particular, to obtain the transparent, colorless glass we are familiar with. At the same time, in the ancient Phoenician city of Sidon, the technique of blowing glass using a tube was invented. This made it possible to produce transparent thin-walled vessels of a wide variety of shapes.

The glass blowing tube has survived to this day without undergoing significant changes. It is a hollow metal rod 1 - 1.5 m long, one-third covered with wood. In addition to this most important tool, the master needs metal scissors for cutting the glass mass and attaching it to the tube, as well as long tweezers for pulling and shaping.

During the reign of Emperor Octavian Augustus (1st half of the 1st century AD), the art of glassmaking, which had previously developed only in the eastern provinces, spread throughout the vast empire. Workshops are held in Italy, Spain, Gaul, Britain and Germany.

Glazed windows and glassware began to become firmly established among the Romans. Of course, glass in Ancient Rome was not such a cheap and widely used material as it is today, but it is still quite accessible. A citizen of average prosperity can afford it. “Poor is he whose home is not decorated with glass,” said the famous Roman orator Cicero. Over time, their own famous workshops arose in the western part of the empire. Gaul and the Rhineland became famous for their glassmakers.

Invasions of barbarian tribes and the collapse of the Roman Empire in the 5th century. n. e. led to the decline of many sciences and crafts. Glassmaking was no exception. In the Middle Ages, many recipes known in antiquity were either completely lost or remained the property of a few initiates - hereditary masters or alchemists, often with a reputation as sorcerers. They were in no hurry to share the secrets of their craft, so glass products became luxury items.

In the 9th century. Pope Leo IV, for reasons that are not entirely clear, issued a ban on the manufacture of hollow glass for church utensils and the use of glass vessels for liturgical purposes. Glass seemed to him either a too secular material, or even a product of paganism, obtained from evil knowledge. The papal edict contributed to the further decline of artistic glassmaking in the West, because the church was one of the main customers for works of various arts.

At the same time, many of the secrets of ancient glassmaking survived the Dark Ages precisely thanks to Christian monks who carefully copied Roman treatises on various crafts. The content of Pliny's work on glass was conveyed in the Etymology of Isidore of Seville, a bishop and saint who lived in the 7th century. n. e. Many ancient and oriental recipes, as well as poetic legends about glassmakers, are contained in the “Notes on Various Arts” by the monk Theophilus (X-XI centuries). But the recipes, firstly, remained the property of a few, and secondly, even the happy owners of precious books did not always have enough practical skills to successfully implement the advice they contained.

Paradoxically, it was precisely to the low level of glassmaking that the brightest form of art of the Middle Ages - the art of creating stained glass windows - owed its appearance.

Craftsmen of the early Middle Ages, as a rule, were unable to obtain a sufficiently large transparent and evenly colored sheet of glass. They were content with small records. At the same time, having poor knowledge of the properties of the glass mass, glassmakers were rarely able to achieve a pre-planned color. Transparent plates usually turned out to be multi-colored. They were inserted into the window, connecting with lead jumpers. It turned out to be something like a mosaic, and the natural idea was to start laying out colored patterns from pieces of glass.

The first window patterns were geometric, borrowed from the then fashionable fabrics. Later they began to create entire paintings and figurative compositions.

The above-mentioned edict of Leo IV dealt only with the prohibition of the use of glass vessels for liturgy. Dad did not extend his prejudice to window panes, or did not consider it necessary to mention it. Over time, it became a custom to decorate church windows with scenes from the Old and New Testaments. As the Gothic style developed, the role of stained glass in European religious architecture constantly increased. In the XIII - XV centuries. The most complex multi-figure compositions formed by pieces of multi-colored glass occupy almost the entire space of the walls between the supports of huge cathedrals. Thus, the total area of ​​​​stained glass windows of the famous Chartres Cathedral exceeds 2,000 square meters. m, the diameter of the round rose windows is 13 m.

“These huge circles of light, these fiery wheels that are thrown by lightning are one of the reasons for the beauty of Chartres Cathedral,” wrote the French art historian Mal about the Chartres “roses.”

Such a round stained glass window, called the “rose” and which became a classic detail of Gothic architecture, was apparently first made in Chartres by order of King Louis IX the Saint and his wife Blanche of Castile. The stained glass windows of this first “rose” depict scenes from the earthly life of Our Lady, paintings of the Last Judgment and the coats of arms of France and Castile.

And here is another description of the stained glass windows of Chartres Cathedral: “When the sun is hot, the floor slabs and the surface of the pillars are covered with fiery, ultramarine and garnet-colored spots, shaded on the grainy surface of the stone, as if by the touch of a pastel. In gray weather, the entire church is filled with a bluish shimmer, giving greater depth to the perspective and the vaults - more mystery.”

In the mature Middle Ages, the skill and knowledge of those who, at their own will, knew how to give glass different shades was highly valued. Only in the 15th century. The palette of Western European stained glass was enriched with yellow paint, and the secret of very beautiful ruby-red glass (the so-called “golden ruby”) known to the Romans was only in the 17th century. The famous alchemist Johann Kunkel managed to recreate it. Moreover, he took the secret of this beauty to the grave, leaving a note with the following content:

“Since this secret cost me a lot of work, effort and concern, let no one consider it bad that I do not now make it public.”

Ancient glassmaking recipes were better preserved in the east in Byzantium, as well as in the Venetian Republic, which occupied an intermediate position between East and West. The latter was destined to become a world-famous center for artistic glassmaking, which has not lost its position to this day.

Benedictine monks were at the origins of the famous Venetian glassmaking. At the end of the X - beginning of the XI centuries. They established the production of relatively simple wine flasks here. Later, the art of city craftsmen developed and honed. Local glassmaking received a new impetus for development after 1204. Then many talented artisans and experts in ancient secrets fled from Constantinople captured by the crusaders. A significant part of them settled in Venice.

Venetian glass bowl. Second half of the 16th century.

In the second half of the XIII century. Absolutely original Venetian thin-walled dishes and glass jewelry appear. Soon after this, the production and sale of glass products was taken under strict control by the authorities of the Venetian Republic and became a state monopoly. At the end of the same century, a decree was issued ordering all glass factories to move to the island of Murano. Professional secrets of glassmakers acquired the status of state secrets; their disclosure was punishable as treason to the republic.

The Venetians knew how to chemically color glass with admixtures of copper, cobalt and gold, and using burnt bone they created very beautiful opal glass. In the 16th century the whole of Europe went crazy over the precious products made from so-called ice or ice-flower glass imported from Venice. During the manufacturing process, the hot workpiece was immersed in cold water, causing a network of small cracks to appear on the surface and the glass to become cloudy. Then the blowing process is continued, as a result of which the sharp edges of the cracks are smoothed out. The result is a glass vessel decorated with a unique pattern.

Already at the end of the 13th century. Glasses for glasses began to be produced in Venice. And in the 16th century. Mirror glass was invented on the island of Murano. Previously, polished metal or rock crystal was used as a mirror. Such mirrors were far from perfect. Murano glassmakers applied a very thin layer of mercury to a tin plate and then covered it with a layer of clear glass. This method was at first a secret of the inhabitants of the glass island, but then gradually spread throughout Europe. In the 19th century mercury was replaced with silver, which ensured even higher quality.

Venice was the most famous, but not the only city in Europe where skilled glassmakers worked. Famous glass-making centers already in the Middle Ages existed in Bohemia and Germany. The wonderful German storyteller Wilhelm Hauff, in one of his fairy tales based on folklore, gives a description of the Glass Man - a good spirit or wizard, the patron of glassmaking:

“And at that very moment he saw under the roots of an old fir tree a tiny old man in a black caftan, red stockings, with a large pointed hat on his head. The old man looked at Peter friendly and stroked his small beard - so light, as if it were made of a spider's web. He had a blue glass pipe in his mouth, and he puffed on it every now and then, releasing thick clouds of smoke.
Without ceasing to bow, Peter approached and, to his considerable surprise, saw that all the clothes on the old man: a caftan, trousers, a hat, shoes - everything was made of multi-colored glass, but only the glass was very soft, as if it had not yet cooled down after melting "

Glass gradually occupied an increasingly stronger position in everyday life. In the 17th century in Western Europe they learned to make the rectangular window glass we are accustomed to. To do this, a glass cylinder was made, cut longitudinally and carefully stretched.

Around this time, wine was first sold in glass bottles. In 1661, the Englishman John Colnet patented a wine bottle and made considerable profit from it. Colnet's bottle was made of dark, strong and heavy glass. The body was spherical, and the bottom was slightly flattened for stability. Around the neck, a few centimeters from the end, there was a ring for reinforcement and also to hold the rope that secured the cork. Over the next 30-40 years, the bottle shape became more cylindrical and the neck became shorter. The new invention revolutionized the wine trade, rapidly spreading throughout European countries. Prior to this innovation, the bottles had never been sold with their contents. It was homemade dishes. Like cups and plates, bottles were constantly washed and reused.

In the second half of the 18th century. glassmaking from “secret knowledge” finally turned into a science in the modern sense of the word, a discipline at the intersection of physics and chemistry. This is a considerable merit of the luminary of Russian science Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov.

In 1748, thanks to the efforts of Lomonosov, a chemical research laboratory was opened at the Academy. Here the scientist conducted more than 4 thousand experiments, developing day after day, month after month, the technology of colored glasses - transparent and opaque. The work was carried out at an extremely high methodological level: the uniformity of experimental conditions was strictly observed - when studying the qualitative influence of any one factor, all measures were taken to ensure that the effect of the remaining technological parameters of the experiment remained constant. Strict quantitative dosage of components was observed, with an accuracy of 1 grain (0.0625 g). The obtained samples were stored in a strict system in special numbered boxes.

Seeking support and subsidies for the development of his research, Lomonosov created a unique literary work: a very voluminous (3 thousand words) poem entitled “ Letter about the benefits of Glass to the Most Excellent Lieutenant General, Actual Chamberlain of Her Imperial Majesty, Moscow University Curator, and the Orders of the White Eagle, St. Alexander and St. Anne, Knight Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov, written in 1752".

In the mid-50s, Mikhailo Vasilyevich founded a glass factory on lands granted by the treasury in the village of Ust-Ruditsa near Oranienbaum, the most essential part of which was a chemical laboratory. At the same time, he studied the general physical theory of color. Among other things, he managed to rediscover and finally make public the secret of the “golden ruby”, so carefully guarded by Kunkel.

Uranium decanter, products in the "golden ruby" technique, diamond cut
Photo: img-fotki.yandex.ru

So, during the 18th century. A method for obtaining glass masses with a wide variety of properties was developed in detail. Anyone who had the appropriate education could familiarize themselves with the recipes.

In the second half of the 19th century. glass production began to be mechanized. The basis for mechanization was the first continuously operating glass melting furnace created in Germany by Siemens in 1870. Soon glass-forming machines for blowing cans, bottles, glasses, and electric lamp bulbs appeared. At the end of the century, using the method proposed in England by Lubbers and Chambers, mechanized production of blown glass cylinders was established, which were then smoothed into sheets of window glass. In 1902, the Belgian Emil Fourcaud received a patent for a mechanized method of drawing a continuous strip of glass from glass melt in a bath furnace using a special refractory float (boat). A modern bottle production unit works day and night and produces 200 thousand products during the day.

Mechanization made glass one of the cheapest and most common materials, but artistic glassmaking, having experienced some decline at the end of the 19th century, did not at all become a thing of the past, but came to a new flourishing, retaining the good old tools in use: a glass blowing tube, scissors and pliers, and at the same time, actively using new technologies.

The main glass-forming substance is quartz sand, also known as silicon dioxide SiO 2. Glass can be obtained using only this component, but its smelting requires a difficult to achieve temperature of more than 2000°C. A substance that allows you to lower the melting point can be sodium carbonate, that is, soda. When heated, a decomposition reaction occurs.

Na 2 CO 3 →Na 2 O + CO 2

The resulting sodium oxide, at temperatures above 700°C, goes into a molten state and dissolves silicon dioxide.

To make the glass resistant to moisture, a stabilizing component is introduced - calcium oxide, which is a product of the thermal decomposition of limestone, added to the composition at the initial stage.

CaCO 3 → CaO + CO 2

When the melt cools, a complex silicate compound is formed.

Na 2 O: CaO: 6 SiO 2

This is the so-called soda glass. There are two more main types of glass, slightly different in their properties: potassium-lime glass

K 2 O: CaO: 6SiO 2;

potash-lead glass

K 2 O: PbO: 6SiO 2;

In these latter cases, instead of soda, potash is used - K 2 CO 3.

Potash glass is more refractory and less ductile than soda glass, but it has a bright shine. Lead glass, obtained by replacing calcium oxide with lead oxide, is soft, melts easily and has a particularly strong luster and high refractive index. However, it is quite heavy. This is an ideal material for artistic glass carving.

Different colors are determined by impurities contained in the original components or specially added. A small inclusion of cobalt gives the glass a beautiful deep blue tint, the presence of chromium makes it bright green, and uranium makes it lemon yellow. A very beautiful yellow color is obtained when using colloidal silver. The glass mass can be colored ruby ​​red by adding colloidal gold, and under certain conditions, cheaper copper . Copper can also be used to create turquoise tones. Iron compounds, depending on the concentration and temperature conditions, give the glass a greenish, yellowish or reddish-brown tint. It is ferrous impurities that color an ordinary beer bottle in the colors we are familiar with. Even small, seemingly insignificant inaccuracies in the formulation can significantly affect the final properties of the resulting substance.

So, everything is more or less clear with the chemical composition of glass, but the same cannot be said about its structure. The material, which has become so familiar and commonplace, is still in many ways a mystery to physicists. At the moment there is no generally accepted theory of glass structure that satisfies everyone.

It is customary to surprise the curious with the message that from a physical point of view, glass is a liquid, just very viscous. Usually this news makes a stunning impression on a fresh person. However, this is not entirely true. Glass, of course, is not a true solid, such as ice or chemically identical to glass, but not rock crystal in structure, since it does not have a crystal lattice. But its structure is also different from a classical superviscous liquid, such as tar. Superviscous liquids, no matter how superviscous they are, float and deform after some time. Over time, glass is subject to very slow crystallization, which is why, as a rule, it becomes cloudy and porous. This process can last for millennia.

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Completed by: 11th grade student Maria Serova. "The history of glass in the history of mankind"

Glass is a solid amorphous, transparent in a certain region of the optical range (based on the chemical composition) material obtained by cooling a hot material containing glass-forming components (oxides Si, B, Al, P, etc.) and metal oxides (Li, K , Mg, Pb, etc.). In the modern world, silicate glass has become most widespread. Every day we come into contact with this magical material in one way or another, and our life without it is unthinkable. How did it come into being and who invented it?

Glass has been known to people for about 55 centuries. The most ancient samples were discovered in Egypt. Glass items dating back to 2000 BC have been found in India, Korea, and Japan. Excavations indicate that in Rus' they knew the secrets of glass production more than a thousand years ago.

An interesting fact you should know is that glass was not invented by humanity. Glass was born by nature itself. The first lumps of glass appeared from hot lava that spilled onto the surface hundreds of millions of years ago. It is known that it was not transparent, but ordinary matte - almost black. Definition of glass masses - Volcanic glass is now called obsidian.

Some consider glass to be a by-product of copper smelting. And the ancient Roman historian Pliny the Elder (79 - 23 BC) wrote that we owe glass to the Phoenician sea merchants, who, while preparing food in the parking lots, made fires on the coastal sand and propped up the pots with pieces of lime, thereby creating the conditions for the formation of glass melt. Indeed, the starting materials for making glass were quartz sand, lime and alkali - organic (plant ash) or inorganic (soda). Metallurgical slags were used as dyes: compounds of copper, cobalt and manganese. quartz sand soda lime plant ash It is believed that man-made glass was discovered by accident, as a by-product of other crafts. In those days, clay products were fired in ordinary pits dug in the sand, and straw or reed served as fuel. The ash formed during combustion - that is, alkali - upon high-temperature contact with sand gave a glassy mass.

And glass making has been known since ancient times in Egypt. Glass beads and amulets have been found in tombs dating back to 7000 BC. e. Around 1500 BC e. The Egyptians were already making their own glass. To do this, they used a mixture of crushed quartz pebbles and sand. They also discovered that if they added cobalt, copper or manganese to this mixture, they could produce blue, green and purple colored glass. After 1200 BC. e. The Egyptians learned to cast glass in glass molds. But the glass blowing tube was unknown until the beginning of the Christian era, when it was invented by the Phoenicians. In some countries of the world, such tubes are still used in glassblowing workshops.

The Romans were great craftsmen in glass making, and they were the first to make thin window glass.

Venice became famous for its artistic glassware. Venetian glass has extraordinary hardness and amazes with its lightness, grace and beauty.

In the 13th century, numerous glass factories moved from Venice to the neighboring island of Murano, due to frequent fires caused by the round-the-clock operation of glass furnaces. Italian Murano is still a center for the manufacture of handmade glass pieces.

In the 16th century, glass was already being produced throughout Europe. Currently, Bohemian glass produced in the Czech Republic is widely known for its beauty.

Thanks to the invention of a new method of crystal production by the Englishman George Ravenscroft in 1674, a higher quality composition of glass melt was obtained than that of the Italian masters. Ravenscroft replaced potash with highly concentrated lead oxide and obtained glass with highly reflective properties, which was very amenable to deep cutting and engraving. The main countries producing high-quality crystal tableware made from glass with a high lead content are Sweden, England and Ireland.

The first mention of a Russian glass factory - it was built near Moscow near the village of Dukhanino - dates back to 1635. Later, in 1669, another plant was built with treasury funds in the village of Izmailovo. Glass production received especially great development in the era of Peter I (early 18th century), who created an exemplary factory-school on the Sparrow Hills in Moscow. Of greater artistic interest are the glass in the windows of Russian churches of the 16th and 17th centuries, painted with fireproof, indelible transparent paints. It was only at the end of the 19th century that glassmaking began to grow from artisanal into mass industrial production and became an object of everyday life.

Glass is one of the oldest materials known to man. Now almost any shape and size is possible. Around 4000 BC. glazed pottery with a smooth glassy coating appeared. The first glassware dates back to 1500 BC.

Glass was also brewed in Kievan Rus. However, the Mongol-Tatar yoke stopped the development of glass production for several centuries, and again it was revived in Russia in the 17th century based on the traditions of European glassmaking.

In 1634-39, in the village of Dukhanino near Moscow, the Swedish master Julius Koyet built the first glass factory, which produced window glass and apothecary glassware.

In 1669, by decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, a glass factory was built in Izmailovo. Luxurious items for the royal court were produced here. Particularly valued at that time were “amusing” vessels made by foreign masters and their Russian students in the traditions of thin and elegant Venetian glass. The “cracker” cups were distinguished by intricate moldings and were equipped with a system of hollow rods with their own secret.

With the emergence of the new capital, the center of glass production moved to St. Petersburg. In the first half of the 18th century, several factories already existed here: Yamburg and Zhabinsky near St. Petersburg, and in the early 1730s a factory was built in the capital itself. St. Petersburg factories produced mainly tall ceremonial goblets made of colorless glass, decorated with matte engravings with images of portraits of reigning persons, with coats of arms and monograms, with all kinds of emblems, with floral ornaments.” The decorative effect of the products was enhanced by gilding.

Many achievements of Russian glassmaking are associated with the discovery of colored glass. The recipe was developed by M.V. Lomonosov at the Ust-Ruditsk factory, and then this technology spread to all factories in Russia. By the end of the 18th century, ruby, blue, violet, green, turquoise, marble and milk glass were in fashion. For painting, oxides of various metals were mainly used. Ruby glass, which had shades from delicate pink to scarlet, was especially valued. Gold was added to its composition for coloring. Products made from colored glass were painted with gold and silver.

In the 18th century, milk glass, which externally resembles porcelain and, in essence, imitates it, was also considered a variety of colored glass. Sometimes milk glass was dense, “thick,” but more often translucent glass was produced, having a soft, luminous surface. This gave a special luminosity to the polychromy of the enamel painting with which it was decorated. The heyday of artistic glassmaking in Russia occurred in the first third of the 19th century. Newly invented colorless lead crystal appeared, which had a special brilliance, transparency and hardness.

Thick-walled vessels began to be decorated with deep carvings. The different geometric shapes were reminiscent of the processing of precious stones. Hence the name - diamond edge. Crystal products were distinguished by their solemnity and monumentality. At this time, the Imperial Factory in St. Petersburg produced large vases framed in gilded bronze, floor lamps several meters high, and chandeliers for decorating the capital's palaces.

Glass appeared painted with transparent enamels (as opposed to the opaque enamels of the 18th century). Various household items:

Bottles, glasses, ink utensils, decanters;

Decorated with carvings and gilding, thanks to the translucent delicate painting with enamels, they acquired a charming, intimate character.

Curious are the products decorated with printed designs - portraits of members of the royal family, scenes of historical, mythological, and literary subjects. A similar technique subsequently became widely used in the production of mass products.

Products made of two, and sometimes three-layer glass of various colors were processed by grinding, removing one layer at a time. A multi-colored ornament appeared on the surface.

Even in the 19th century, the Imperial Factory produced large, technically complex works that required high skill from glassblowers and decorative artists. A typical example is a dark green vase, consisting of two parts held together by a rod. Gold painting in the neo-Greek style fashionable at that time.

In the second half of the 19th century, some factories producing highly artistic products reduced production as unprofitable. Enterprises that produce cheaper, mass-produced products succeed. These are primarily the Dyatkovo and Gus Khrustalny factories, as well as the Maltsov factories.

The color plate shows only a few examples of glassware made by Russian craftsmen.

According to ancient legend, the discoverers of glass were Phoenician or Greek traders. Having made a stop on an island during one of their many voyages, they lit a fire on the shore. The sand melted from the high heat and turned into a glassy mass.

The invention of glass dates back to very ancient times. Various legends about which people, where and when first made glass are unreliable, so who and when invented glass is unknown.

The appearance of glass is associated with the development of pottery. During firing, a mixture of soda and sand could get onto the clay product, as a result of which a glassy film - glaze - formed on the surface of the product.

In Thebes (Egypt) an image of glassblowers was found, a production reminiscent of our artisanal glass production. Scientists date the inscription on these images to approximately 1600 BC. e. Items found during excavations of ancient Egyptian cities indicate that Egypt was a center of glassmaking, where urns, vases, statues, columns and jugs were made.

The glass that was produced in ancient times was significantly different from modern glass. It was a poorly fused mixture of sand, table salt and lead oxide - frit. Neither the material nor the technique of antiquity made it possible to make large objects from glass.

Glass production in Egypt produced decorative and ornamental materials, so manufacturers sought to produce colored glass rather than transparent glass. Natural soda and local sand containing some calcium carbonate were used as starting materials. Low silica and calcium content, as well as high sodium content, made glass easier to melt because it lowered the melting point, but reduced strength, increased solubility, and reduced the weather resistance of the material.

In glass production, various components were mixed in clay crucibles and heated strongly in a special furnace made of refractory bricks until a homogeneous light mass was obtained. An experienced craftsman determined the readiness of the glass by eye. At the end of the melting process, the glass was poured into molds or cast in small portions. Often the glass mass was allowed to cool in a crucible, which was then broken off. The glass thus obtained was melted down and put into production as needed.

The first glass was used to make beaded jewelry. The beads were made by hand, piece by piece. A thin glass thread was wound around copper wire, breaking off the thread after each finished bead. Later, to make beads, a glass tube of the required diameter was drawn out and then cut into beads.

Vases were molded on a clay cone, wrapped in cloth and mounted on a copper rod as a handle. To distribute the glass mass more evenly, it was quickly turned several times. For the same purpose, the vase was rolled on a stone slab. After this, the rod and cone were pulled out of the product, allowing it to cool.

The color of the glass depended on the additives introduced. The amethyst color of the glass was given by the addition of manganese compounds. The black color was obtained by adding copper, manganese or a large amount of iron compounds. Much of the blue glass is colored copper, although a sample of blue glass from Tutankhamun's tomb contained cobalt. Green Egyptian glass is colored with copper, yellow glass with lead and antimony. The red glass samples are due to the copper oxide content. Milk glass containing tin and clear glass items were found in Tutankhamun's tomb.

From Egypt and Phenicia, glassmaking moved to other countries, where it reached such a development that crystal glassware even began to replace the goldware that had been used until that time.

A revolution in glass production was achieved by the invention of the glass blowing process. Later, using the blowing method, they learned to make long glass cylinders from finished glass, which were “opened” and straightened, producing flat glass. This method was used to make window glass until the 1900s, and to make glass used for artistic purposes even later.

Ancient glass products were usually painted and were luxury items that were not accessible to everyone; products made of colorless glass were especially highly valued.

In antiquity, glass did not find significant use; even mirrors were then made primarily of metal. But in subsequent eras it was used more and more often. In the Middle Ages, the use of colored glass mosaics to decorate windows in churches became widespread.

The late Middle Ages and the beginning of the modern era were marked by the widespread use of glassblowing. Glassmaking had a great development in Venice. Being the strongest maritime power in the Mediterranean, Venice conducted extensive trade with the countries of the East and West. A prominent item in this trade was glass, which was distinguished by its extraordinary variety and great artistic value. The Venetians invented mosaic glass and mirrors. Receiving great benefits from trade, Venice took every possible care to develop its glass industry. The export of glass raw materials was prohibited, and agreements were concluded with other countries to purchase broken glass from them.

Glassmakers were provided with numerous benefits. At the same time, the Venetians jealously guarded the secrets of glass production; disclosure of professional secrets was punishable by death.

Let us dwell on the main types of glass produced by Venetian glassblowers who organized production on the island of Murano near Venice.

Colored glass. Oxides of non-ferrous metals were used for its manufacture. Iron oxide colors the glass mass green, copper oxide gives a green or red tone, cobalt produces blue glass, an admixture of gold produces ruby ​​glass, etc. The first vessels made of colored glass appeared in the second half of the 15th century. And almost all of them were painted with enamel paints. Favorite color in the 16th century. was blue - azurro. Violet glass – pavonazzo – also enjoyed great success.

The enamelled and gilded glass from Murano is of the greatest interest. The beginning of glass painting with enamel is associated with the name of the famous master and outstanding chemist Angelo Beroviero. Initially, vessels made of colored transparent glass were painted with enamel; later they began to cover milky glass with painting. Venetian vessels of the early period are distinguished by their unusually rich painting: triumphal processions, wedding processions, scenes of mythological content, and erotic subjects were depicted. Glass was often decorated with gold scale-like patterns and relief dots made of multi-colored enamel.

Transparent colorless glass was invented in the second half of the 15th century. This is the famous Venetian crystallo. The name emphasizes the colorlessness and transparency of the glass in comparison with previously produced glass of a greenish tint or colored glass.

Filigree glass. This is colorless transparent glass, decorated with glass threads introduced into the mass. These threads, usually spirally twisted, represent an infinite variety of plexuses. Most often, threads are white (milky) in color. Judging by the surviving samples, the time of the invention of filigree glass coincides with the establishment of Renaissance forms in Venetian glassmaking.

A unique type of filigree technique is mesh glass. It is made from two layers of clear glass with a filigree pattern, superimposed on each other in the opposite direction. A pattern is formed in the form of a grid, and, as a rule, an air drop is placed in each cell.

Milk glass is an opaque white glass with a milky tint ( latticinio or lattimo). It is obtained by adding tin oxide to the glass mass. The vessels of the 16th century, made of colored milk glass and painted with enamel paints and gold, were, apparently, the first attempts in Europe to imitate porcelain. Today, this fake porcelain is extremely rare and extremely valuable.

Agate glass is the name given to glass consisting of differently arranged and differently colored layers that make up patterns similar to agate. Agate glass comes in a wide variety of colors and patterns. As is known, in mineralogy, agate forms one group with chalcedony and jasper. Therefore, in old Italian treatises one can also find the names of jasper and chalcedony glass.

Aventurine glass is a special type of glass invented by Murano craftsmen at the beginning of the 17th century. On the polished surface there are countless shiny dots that produce a special lighting effect. These flickering dots on yellowish-brown glass are obtained by adding copper to the glass mass, which crystallizes when the glass cools. The invention of aventurine glass is attributed to the Miotti dynasty, which for many years kept the secret of its production.

Mosaic glass. The way this glass is made is remarkable. Multi-colored glass threads are taken and soldered into a narrow cylindrical rod, the cross section of which has the shape of an asterisk, rosette, or some symmetrical figure. This glass rod is then cut into many discs, which are inserted into the glass mass. Products made from mosaic glass are a motley field woven from stars, rosettes, etc.

Some Murano pieces are decorated with a pattern called craquelage. The pattern was obtained like this: a blown object, inside of which a high temperature was maintained, was lowered into cold water. As a result, the outer layer of glass becomes covered with countless cracks, which, however, do not penetrate into the thickness of the glass. Cracks remain on the surface of the glass, decorating it with a unique pattern.

The process of making vases using the pulegoso technique is based on the effect of air bubbles forming inside the glass, which are formed when hot glass is immersed in water and immediately returned to the furnace to give density to the substance. The vases are blown and processed by hand.

Engraved glass was already known at the beginning of the 16th century. At first, the Venetians engraved glass with diamonds mechanically. Later, a chemical engraving method was invented.

Beads. Bead production was a well-known and perhaps the most profitable branch of the Venetian glass industry. The beads were known as conterie. In a broad sense, the term conterie refers not only to beads, but also beads, glass buttons, artificial pearls, fake rhinestones and other small glass objects. The name itself is explained by the fact that this piece of goods is very easy and convenient to count (contare - in Italian - to count).

The first scientific work on glassmaking is considered to be the book of the monk Antonio Neri, published in 1612 in Florence, in which instructions were given on the use of oxides of lead, boron and arsenic to brighten glass, and the compositions of colored glasses were given. In the second half of the 17th century. German alchemist Kunkel published his essay “The Experimental Art of Glassmaking”. He also found a way to obtain a golden ruby.

In 1615, coal began to be used in England to heat glass melting furnaces. This increased the temperature in the oven.

At the beginning of the 17th century. In France, a method was proposed for casting mirror glass on copper plates with subsequent rolling. Around the same time, a method of etching glass with a mixture of fluorspar and sulfuric acid was discovered, and the production of window and optical glass was mastered.

In Rus', glass was found in the form of beads back in the 13th century, but there were no factories at that time. The first Russian plant was built only in 1634 by the Swede Elisha Koeta. The plant produced tableware and apothecary ware; the first craftsmen there were Germans, who had a great influence on the development of the Russian glass industry.

In 1668, construction began on a state-owned plant in the village of Izmailovo near Moscow, which was partially working for export. Thus, dishes of the “Izmailovo craft” were exported to Persia - up to 2000 jugs, decanters and flycatchers annually.

The construction of glass factories progressed much faster in the 18th century. Peter I did especially a lot in this regard, who patronized the development of glass making, abolished duties on glass products, ordered German masters, and sent Russians to study abroad. Upon returning from a trip abroad, he built a state-owned factory near Moscow, on Vorobyovy Gory, which was supposed to be made into an exemplary glass factory and at the same time a school for training glassmakers.

In 1720, the Decree “On the establishment of mirror factories in Kyiv” was issued. During the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna (1741–1761), there were already six glass factories near Moscow.

In 1752, “permission was given to Professor M.V. Lomonosov to start a factory for finishing multi-colored glass, beads, bugles and other haberdashery items with a privilege for 30 years.” Among the products produced at the plant was glass for mosaic work (“musiya”), from which M. V. Lomonosov created a number of paintings, including the famous “Battle of Poltava”. After Lomonosov's death, the plant passed to his widow and closed in 1798.

In 1760, the Moscow merchant Maltsov received permission to set up a glass factory for the production of crystal and glassware, as well as mirror, carriage and window glass. This plant became the founder of the later known Maltsov plants.

Until the middle of the 19th century. glass was boiled in crucibles. In the 30s of the XIX century. The first bath furnaces for industrial glass production appeared in Russia.

In 1856, Friedrich Siemens invented the regenerative glass furnace. In it, exhaust gases are heated by preheating chambers lined with refractory materials. As soon as these chambers are sufficiently hot, they are supplied with flammable gases and the air necessary for their combustion. The gases generated during combustion evenly mix the molten glass, otherwise mixing a thousand tons of viscous melt would be far from easy. The temperature in the regenerative furnace reaches 1600 °C. Later the same principle was applied to steel melting.

A modern glass melting furnace is a continuous furnace. On one side, initial substances are fed into it, which, thanks to a slight tilt of the hearth, move, gradually turning into molten glass, to the opposite side (the distance between the walls of the furnace is about 50 m). There, a precisely measured portion of the finished glass is fed onto cooled rollers. A glass ribbon several meters wide stretches the entire length of the hundred-meter cooling section. At the end of this section, machines cut it into sheets of the desired format and size for mirrors or window glass.

The next significant stage in the development of sheet glass production was the method of machine glass drawing, which was developed by Emile Fourcauld in 1902. With this method, glass is drawn out of the glass furnace through rolling rollers in the form of a continuous strip and enters a cooling shaft, in the upper part of which it is cut into individual sheets. The machine method of glass production was further improved in the first half of the 20th century. Among the most modern methods, the so-called Libbey-Owens method and the Pittsburgh method should be highlighted.

The most recent stage in glass production was the float method, patented in 1959, developed by the English inventor Pilkington. In this process, which can be equated to discovery, the glass comes from the melting furnace in a horizontal plane in the form of a flat ribbon through a bath of molten tin for further cooling and annealing. The huge advantage of the float method, compared to all previous methods, is, among other things, higher productivity, stable thickness and defect-free glass, as well as surface quality.

Among solid substances of inorganic origin (stone, metal), glass occupies a special place. Certain properties of glass make it similar to liquid. There are no crystals to be found in it. There is no sharp transition in it at any particular temperature from the liquid to the solid state (or vice versa). Molten glass (glass mass) remains solid over a wide temperature range. If we take the viscosity of water as 1, then the viscosity of molten glass at 1400 °C is 13,500. If glass is cooled to 1000 °C, it becomes viscous and 2 million times more viscous than water. (For example, a loaded glass tube or sheet sag over time.) At even lower temperatures, the glass turns into a liquid with an infinitely high viscosity.

The main component of glass is silicon dioxide SiO 2, or silica. In its purest form, it is represented in nature by white quartz sand. Silicon dioxide crystallizes relatively gradually during the transition from the melt to the solid state. Melted quartz can be cooled below its solidification temperature without it becoming solid. There are other liquids and solutions that can also be supercooled. But only quartz can be overcooled so much that it loses its ability to form crystals. The silicon dioxide then remains “crystal-free”, that is, “liquid-like”.

It would be too expensive to process pure quartz, primarily due to its relatively high melting point. Therefore, technical glasses contain only 50 to 80% silicon dioxide. To lower the melting point, additives of sodium oxide, alumina and lime are introduced into the composition of such glasses. Certain properties are achieved by adding some other chemicals.

The famous lead glass, which is carefully polished to make bowls or vases, owes its brilliance to the presence of about 18% lead in it.

Mirror glass contains mainly cheap components that reduce the melting point. In large baths (as glassmakers call them), holding more than 1000 tons of glass, fusible substances are first melted. Melted soda and other chemicals dissolve quartz (like water dissolves table salt). This simple method can transform silicon dioxide into a liquid state already at a temperature of about 1000 °C (although in its pure form it begins to melt at much higher temperatures). Much to the chagrin of glassmakers, gases are released from the glass melt. At 1000 °C the melt is still too viscous for gas bubbles to escape freely. To degas it should be brought to a temperature of 1400–1600 °C.

The discovery of the special nature of glass came only in the 20th century, when scientists around the world began to conduct large-scale studies of the atomic and molecular structure of various substances using X-rays.

Nowadays a large number of types of glass are produced. According to their intended purpose, they are divided into: building glass (window glass, patterned glass, glass blocks), container glass, technical glass (quartz, lighting, fiberglass), grade glass, etc.

Glass products can luminesce under the influence of various types of radiation, transmit or absorb ultraviolet radiation.

What, you haven't read it yet? Well, it's in vain...

INTRODUCTION

Stained glass windows are a kind of glass paintings, because the word “vitrage” itself comes from the Latin “vitrum” - glass. An ornament or decorative composition in a window or doorway, an independent panel made of glass or other material that transmits light - all these are stained glass windows, the beauty of which leaves an imprint of individuality and uniqueness on the entire structure. Today in construction practice, the word “stained glass” increasingly defines the complete or partial glazing of a building’s façade.

The purpose of this course work is to study the technology of manufacturing combined stained glass.

As part of this goal, it is necessary to solve the following tasks:

– analyze the identified literature;

– get acquainted with the history of the emergence and development of stained glass;

– study the technology of stained glass techniques;

– consider the tools and equipment necessary for making stained glass;

– identify various combinations of stained glass techniques;

– select illustrative material.

While working on the coursework, 22 sources were identified.

Viv Foster's book is dedicated to the basic techniques and methods of working with colored glass and is intended for both professionals and beginning artists.

The book “Stained Glass” outlines a brief history of the development of stained glass art, the purpose of stained glass, and the technology of their production.

The authors of the book “Stained Glass in Architecture,” drawing on their 15 years of practical experience in the field of stained glass art, tried to include in this publication maximum information that will be interesting and useful not only for specialists, but also for a wide range of readers.

In 1984, a textbook for art universities and colleges was published, which covers theoretical issues and practical recommendations for the production of glass art products. The main attention is paid to the stages of this or that type of glass processing, description of tools and methods of their use.

Album “The Art of Stained Glass. From Origins to the Present" is a detailed study of the development of the art of glass processing and coloring from ancient times to the present day, accompanied by many beautiful illustrations.

In her book, the famous designer Marina Gorodetskaya talks in detail and in an accessible way about a variety of stained glass techniques.

In addition, Internet sources were involved in the work on the coursework

1 History of glass development

1.1 The emergence of glass

Glass has been known to man for more than five thousand years.

Scientists suggest that ancient potters were among the first to become acquainted with artificial glass: during firing, a mixture of soda and sand could get onto a clay product, and a glassy film-glaze would form on the surface of the product. According to another legend, the first people to become acquainted with glass were the Kutsy, traveling in a caravan through the Arabian desert. Among other goods, they transported soda, and, stopping for the night, they covered the fire with bags of soda so that the wind would not blow it out. Waking up in the morning, they were surprised to find that the soda... had turned into pieces of glass.

Despite the possible amount of fiction - a legend is a legend - from the point of view of scientists, under a unique set of circumstances, something like this could well have happened: sand melts at a temperature of 1710 ° C, but when soda is added to it, the melting point decreases significantly (to 720 ° WITH). Interestingly, in Mesopotamia, archaeologists discovered one of the oldest glass products - glass beads dating back to approximately 2450 BC. e., which, thanks to the manufacturing method, make this legend quite similar to the truth: the beads were stone-processed fragments of a large block of glass. According to scientific research, the first to learn how to make glass were the Egyptians and the inhabitants of the Middle East, who lived around the 3rd - 4th millennium BC. e.

The first glass was boiled in pots over fires or in ovens, just as ordinary stew is cooked. The so-called charge was placed in the vessel - a powder from a mixture of sand, soda or ash, adding chalk, dolomite, and feldspar as impurities. The quality of the future glass - strength, transparency, color, chemical resistance - greatly depended on the quality and method of preparing the charge. For example, a mixture of sand and soda made it possible to obtain a not very transparent, cloudy glass, soluble even in ordinary water, but when alumina was added to this composition, the thermal and chemical resistance, strength and hardness of the glass increased. The first glass that man learned to produce was opaque. The Egyptians often used it to imitate various stones - malachite, turquoise. The composition of glass was constantly changing; additional ingredients began to be introduced into it - lead and tin oxides, and for coloring - manganese and cobalt compounds. The ancient Egyptians knew two ways to process glass: plastic molding and pressing, with which they initially made only small items. Subsequently, when people figured out adding dyes to the three components (about 1200 BC), colored glass arose. At first it was mainly blue, turquoise or green, as it was made by adding copper and iron. At the beginning of our era, blue glass colored with cobalt also appeared in Egypt.

In those days, glass seemed to people a divine miracle: after all, it was born from earth and fire and gave it unique, contradictory properties: when molten it was soft, plastic and transparent, and when it solidified, it became hard and with a smooth and shiny surface... It is not surprising that in In ancient times, glass was often valued higher than its native metals - gold and silver, and the ability to make it was considered a real art. And an old legend even says that during the time of the Roman emperor Tiberius (42 BC), when a certain master accidentally revealed the secret of making unbreakable glass, he had to pay for it with his life: the emperor did not want such a discovery to lead to depreciation glass Methods of working with glass were constantly improved. Literary sources claim that during excavations of the cities of Ancient Italy, Pompeii and Herculaneum, which died in 79 AD. e. During the eruption of Vesuvius, colored glass, mosaic floors, wall paintings and fragments of stained glass, as well as pieces of frosted glass, were discovered.

At the turn of our era, fundamental changes occurred in glassmaking technology: colorless glass and products made by blowing appeared. In the 1st century AD e. The glass blowing tube was invented, with which it became possible to create simple dishes. It is interesting that the glassmaker's tool has not undergone any changes and has not undergone any improvements for thousands of years: even today craftsmen use a long iron tube covered with wood (so as not to burn their hands) and burnt at one end with a mouthpiece, and at the other with a pear-shaped thickening for collecting glass . The master heats the end of the blowing tube over a fire and dips it into the molten glass mass, which easily sticks to the tube, forming a hot lump. The tube is then quickly removed from the furnace, and the glassmaker instantly begins to blow into it from the opposite end. A hollow space is formed in the glass coma, increasing as air is blown into it. This method was created in ancient times and to this day almost any glass products can be made - both small glassware (colored vases, bowls, dishes, goblets) and large mirror glasses.

In the V-VII centuries. In Europe, glassmaking reached its greatest development. Byzantium gradually became the center of world glassmaking, where craftsmen learned to create not only beautiful vessels, but also smalt - small pieces of colored opaque glass from which they made mosaics.

At the beginning of the 13th century. The important secrets of the craft fell into the hands of Venetian glassmakers, thanks to priceless samples of Oriental glass brought from Constantinople. From this time on, the glass industry in Venice began to develop even faster. Nevertheless, life was not easy for the masters: although they knew no rivals either in Italy itself or in Europe, they themselves were under constant control of the authorities. The supreme power prohibited the export of materials for preparing glass mass abroad and the disclosure of the secrets of the craft. For attempting to leave Venice, the emigrant glassmaker was threatened with unimaginable troubles, prison and even death.

Venetian craftsmen produced decorative vessels and other artistic glass products of a wide variety of shapes and techniques, painted with enamels, covered with gilding, decorated with a pattern of cracks (crackle) and glass threads.

At the end of the 13th century. glass melting furnaces were moved from the territory of Venice beyond the city limits, to the small island of Murano. There the banner of “Murano” glass arose. The products of craftsmen from the island of Murano gained great popularity very quickly. Already in the 15th century. Murano glass was extremely highly valued throughout Europe, and the Doges of Venice even offered Murano glass - real works of art - as precious gifts to important people visiting the city.

In the 16th century, Murano glass gained worldwide fame, which, by the way, has remained with it to this day. Works by Italian artists of that time have survived to this day, depicting Venetian glassware: the vessels amaze with their weightlessness, purity and transparency, and one can only admire the artistic ingenuity of Murano glassmakers. They created drinking vessels in the form of birds, whales, newts and lions, bell towers and barrels, small glass ships, which can now be seen in Western European museums. Transparent glass, colorless and colored, was decorated with rosettes, masks, convexities in the form of drops and bubbles; the edges of the vessels were made wavy and curved and decorated with bird and animal tails, paws, wings...

At the same time, in the 16th century. glass production began to develop in Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, then in France, England, Germany, and, unfortunately, in the 17th century. the fashion for delicate Venetian products began to fade, giving way to heavy cut glass from Bohemia and Silesia. At the beginning of the 17th century. In France, a new method of creating glass products began to be used - casting mirror glass on copper plates with subsequent rolling. Around this time, a method of treating glass by etching (using a mixture of fluorspar and sulfuric acid) was discovered; The production of window and optical glass began to develop. Meanwhile, tragic days came for the famous glass from Murano: at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, a few years after the occupation of the island by French revolutionary troops, all glassmaking workshops on the island were destroyed. The Venetian glass industry began to revive only in the middle of the 19th century, when a certain lawyer Antonio Salviati, with the financial support of two Englishmen, great admirers of Venetian antiquity, again founded a factory in Murano. The production of magnificent glass products in imitation of the great examples of the past resumed, and since then there has been an undiminished interest in Venetian glass throughout the world: things with the signature Murano mark not only do not go out of fashion, but are valued more and more every year, especially among connoisseurs, regularly attending representative European auctions.

In the 21st century The production of glass objects - from dishes to mirrors - is carried out using the same three main methods: blowing, casting and pressing. The greatest development of the high craft of glassmakers was in object design: after all, the plastic, color, technological and texture possibilities of glass are truly limitless and allow the most daring author’s idea to be brilliantly realized. And ancient motifs serve as a source of inspiration for many of the world's leading furniture and design firms. Today, glass appears not only in its usual role (lamps, chandeliers, numerous accessories), but also in a very unusual role: door and window handles, curtain rod ends, switches and other interior details are made from it.

1.2 Formation and development of stained glass

The use of colored glass joined together to form stained glass dates back to the first centuries AD: the most ancient fragments of such stained glass are kept in Ravenna and date back to the 6th century. n. e. The German monk Theophilus first spoke about the technique of making stained glass in the 12th century. in his famous Treatise on the Various Crafts.

The glass used was very heterogeneous and not entirely transparent. One of the earliest stained glass windows known today was discovered in St. Paul's Monastery in England. It dates back to 686 AD. But in fairness, it should be noted that attempts to create something similar to stained glass had been made before. So in the early Christian basilicas of the 5th – 6th centuries. the windows were filled with the thinnest transparent plates of stone (alabaster and selenite).

In 1930, archaeologists during excavations discovered three glass fragments of Jesus Christ with a cruciform halo. The date of manufacture of these fragments is thought to be around 540 AD. Well, the oldest surviving specimen is considered to be the head of Christ from Weissembourg Abbey in Alsace, Germany. The oldest completed stained glass windows in Europe are considered to be five fragments from the Augsburg Cathedral. These stained glass windows are made from vibrantly colored glass using shading and tonal shading techniques.

Later, around the second half of the thirteenth century, the so-called Arabian glass windows appeared in Europe - individual pieces of glass were inserted into marble or stone. The pattern of such stained glass windows was not very rich, because... Islam does not allow any patterns other than geometric or floral ones. At the beginning of the first millennium AD (Romanesque period), there were significantly more elements in architecture that were decorated with stained glass. And they appeared in cathedrals, where thick walls forced large windows. They were the first to be decorated with turns.

At first, such stained glass windows used the same floral ornament with a predominance of red and blue colors. Gradually the drawing became more complex, human figures appeared in it. An example is the large Crucifixion from Poitier Cathedral (1165 - 1170) or the large figures from Canterbury Cathedral (c. 1200).

The process of development of stained glass art continued, and the stained glass windows in the Royal Abbey Church of Saint-Denis are considered a new stage. Here, the stained glass panels included not only figures, but also textual biographies of Christ, Mary and other saints.

In the 12th century. the Romanesque style gave way to the Gothic. The design of the temples changed: the weight of the vaults was transferred to the columns and buttresses, which made it possible to free the walls from the load and cut huge windows into them, which were covered with stained glass windows - panels made up of fragments of colored glass inserted into a lead frame. Mosaics and frescoes quickly gave way to magnificent stained glass ensembles. Multi-colored, large-sized stained glass windows made of glass of various shapes, fastened with lead lintels, were a feature of Gothic cathedrals. Most often, Gothic stained glass windows depicted religious and everyday scenes. They were placed in huge lancet windows, the so-called “roses”.

Gothic cathedrals amaze our imagination not only with the rapid vertical rise of architectural structures, but also with their interior decoration. Thanks to colored glazing, illumination was regulated, the intensity of light inside the room was softened, bringing its artistic design to perfection, and a mystical image was created, full of the mysterious flickering of colored shadows.

Some medieval windows used glass coated with enamel as stained glass and were subjected to intense heat treatment to fuse the enamel into the glass. Between 1200 and 1236, colossal work was carried out on the glazing of Chartres Cathedral: about 7,000 square meters were produced. m of stained glass windows. From an artistic point of view, this masterpiece had a huge resonance in France and throughout Europe.

Unlike France, Germany and England, in Italy the art of stained glass gained popularity a little later; but Italian stained glass became famous for the fact that it was created by artists, and not glassmakers, as was customary in Northern Europe. The most striking example of the Italian school is in the basilica of Assisi.

Great Italian masters such as Duccio di Buoninsegna, Simone Martini, Antonio da Pisa worked with a sense of volume and perspective. An excellent example of this is the rose of the Siena Cathedral, made by Duccio Buoninsegna in 1289. In 1300, Antonio da Pisa presented to his contemporaries “Notes on the art of making glass windows.” This treatise is a real practical guide for stained glass creators. In it, the author draws attention to the choice of glass for stained glass; gives tips on how to cut glass to the desired contour and join glass pieces using a lead profile.

During the Renaissance, stained glass windows fully became paintings with a realistic transfer of volume. They are created as paintings on glass based on paintings by famous artists.

In the 16th century Small cabinet stained glass windows for decorating rooms became widespread.

The ancient technique of stained glass - a mosaic set of figured pieces of glass - began to be actively used for many applied items: furniture, fireplace screens, screens, mirrors, musical instruments, jewelry. And after improving the method of connecting glass to each other, stained glass technology began to be used not only for flat surfaces, but also for three-dimensional objects - lamps and fixtures of the most bizarre shapes.

1.3 Russian stained glass

Glass has been produced in Rus' for more than 1000 years. Already in the XI - XIII centuries. there were stained glass windows in churches in Novgorod, Galich, and Grodno.

However, the first glass factory in Russia was established only in 1635 in Dukhanino, near Moscow, by the Swede Elisha Kokht. This year is considered the founding date of Russian glassmaking. At the end of the fifteen-year privilege given to Kokht, several more glass factories of other entrepreneurs appeared near Moscow, but due to the lack of proper support and encouragement, all these undertakings were not particularly successful, and there was no further development: glassmaking did not follow in Russia then.

M.V. Lomonosov contributed to the opening of a factory producing colored glass near Oranienbaum.

The revival of this business came only at the beginning of the 18th century, when Tsar Peter the Great introduced various incentive measures, and Russians for the first time began to be sent abroad to study glassmaking. In addition, at the same time, Peter I established two state-owned glass factories near Moscow and in the Yamburg district of the St. Petersburg province, and German craftsmen were hired for them. From that time on, and especially from the second half of the 18th century, the development of Russian glassmaking took on a constant character.

In the 18th century In Russia, painted items made of milky white or opal glass became widespread. Various motifs were applied to them with enamel, in most cases floral, but there were also plot paintings. And at the turn of the XVII–XIX centuries. Products made of lead crystal with a diamond cut, which were produced by the St. Petersburg Glass Factory, also began to become popular. It was not only amazing crystal dishes, but also vases and various lamps.

Panels made of multi-colored glass decorated the interiors of the palaces of the Grand Dukes, the Winter Palace, the Corps of Pages, the windows of the Astoria Hotel, and were present in a variety of famous places - from the antechamber of the Academy of Arts to the Grand Ducal Tomb in the Peter and Paul Fortress. Stained glass windows delighted the eye in Gatchina, Peterhof, Pargolovo, Tsarskoe Selo, in the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, in many apartment buildings, hospitals, gymnasiums, mansions, and restaurants. This type of art was also practiced by the artists of the Abramtsevo circle (the stained glass window “Knight” by Mikhail Vrubel is especially famous).

In the 1820s. The passion in Russia for chivalric romances and the imitation of Gothic medieval architecture in architecture formed a fashion for stained glass in Russia. They were then called “transparent paintings” (from the French transparent - transparent). In Russia there was no practice of making multi-colored glass for windows. In Western Europe at this time, stained glass art was in its infancy after a long period of oblivion, which led to the loss of many of the secrets of the craft. Masters of court glass factories from different European countries worked on restoring old and finding new glass coloring recipes, developing compositions for painting, and improving the technique of connecting glass to each other. During this “recovery period,” Europe was not yet able to supply stained glass to the foreign market. Therefore, to decorate Russian buildings, they brought from abroad not the works of 19th-century masters, but ancient medieval works.

Nicholas I showed great interest in transparent paintings and wanted to distribute them in Russia, primarily in the capital of the empire - St. Petersburg. Stained glass first appeared in imperial palaces. Since Russian court factories during this period were not yet able to produce such products, they were selected from museum collections, for example, from the collection of ancient Gothic glass stored in the Hermitage.

Owners of private glass factories tried to make stained glass windows. The result, as a rule, did not justify the effort invested. Ignorance of recipes for ceramic paints, firing technology, the high cost of imported materials, and the lack of necessary equipment brought all efforts to naught: either the experiments were unsuccessful, or the cost of glass paintings turned out to be prohibitively high, and the business was not profitable. Experiments were carried out at the factories of M. F. Orlov, N. A. Bakhmetev, Maltsov, P. M. Vorobyov. The results of their activities have not reached us.

While some were struggling with the secrets of making stained glass, others were mastering the market by releasing “counterfeits”: they painted window glass with short-lived oil paints, or glued paper with drawings onto the windows and thereby imitated multi-colored stained glass. The Imperial Glass Factory, by the will of Nicholas I, also became involved in the process of mastering a craft that was new to Russia. This court enterprise initially produced single-color glass plates without painting. Therefore, the stained glass windows of this plant were originally a set of single-color glass, forming a simple geometric pattern in the window frame. Such primitive stained glass windows were common in Russian interiors throughout the 19th century, however, they bore little resemblance to their ancestors - the thousand-color windows in the stone lace of Gothic cathedrals.

Until the 1840s The Russian glass industry could not offer anything other than these unartistic imitations of medieval temple windows. At the moment when it was decided to install a stained glass window with the image of the Risen Savior in the altar of St. Isaac's Cathedral, there was no factory in Russia capable of completing such a task. Therefore, the altar image was ordered abroad - in Munich, at the famous enterprise in the 19th century - the "Glass Painting Establishment" at the Royal Porcelain Manufactory (German: Koniglich Bayrische Hofglasmalerei) based on a sketch by G. M. von Hess by M. E. Einmiller. In 1847, the glass altarpiece was already in the altar window of the cathedral, and has not left it since then. This painted window is the earliest stained glass window of the 19th century preserved in St. Petersburg. Its significance for the entire history of Russian stained glass art is very great. This is the first figurative stained glass window in a Russian Orthodox church. Before its installation, there were no glass icons either in ancient Russian religious buildings or in churches of the 18th century. The appearance of an altar glass painting depicting Jesus Christ in St. Isaac's Cathedral was the result of the interaction of Western and Eastern Christian traditions, a unique synthesis of figurative Catholic stained glass and an altarpiece Orthodox icon.

Subsequently, stained glass became a common element in the decoration of Orthodox churches, and the iconographic scheme of the stained glass window of St. Isaac's Cathedral was often used when painting the altar windows of Russian churches in different cities of Russia.

The next stage in the history of stained glass in Russia is associated with production at the Imperial Glass Factory, where they begin to paint glass for windows by order. These works were paintings on glass. This type of stained glass has spread throughout Europe since the 1830s. Initially, window paintings were made up of several large plates of glass. However, gradually the techniques of glassmaking, painting and firing improved so much that it became possible to paint a picture on solid glass, as if on a piece of canvas.

The activity of creating stained glass at the Imperial Glass Factory existed for about 50 years - from its inception in the 1840s until the 1890s, when IZS as an independent enterprise ceased to exist.

Throughout the 19th century, the Russian glass industry did not meet the demand for artistic glass works: the development of this industry was insufficient to satisfy the population's demand even for simple essential products. Therefore, stained glass windows were mainly brought from abroad. In the 1860s. Among the foreign workshops, a competitive studio appeared, organized by the Russian artist Vladimir Dmitrievich Sverchkov (1822–1888). His workshop was located in Schleissheim near Munich, it was focused primarily on orders from the Russian Imperial House, producing stained glass for churches and mansions in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Berlin, London, Munich, Turku.

Foreign capital entered the Russian glass industry, which changed its very structure. A new type of enterprise appeared - a joint-stock company, which often united several factories. These societies were often headed by foreign entrepreneurs who, along with capital, brought modern equipment, raw materials for production and craftsmen to Russia. Specialization has occurred in the Russian glass industry: if previously glass production, its finishing and decorative processing were carried out by the same factory, now factories only produce sheet glass, and finishing and artistic work is carried out by specialized workshops, among which a large number of stained glass studios have appeared. In St. Petersburg, over a period of almost thirty years (1890–1917), a total of about 20 stained glass workshops operated. The most famous among them are the ateliers of the brothers M. and A. Frank, the Offenbacher brothers, M. Knoch, A. Anohovich and others. They made stained glass not only for the capital, but also for many other cities of Russia. Along with them, representatives of foreign studios offered artistic products, but their number at that time was insignificant.

If in the 1890s–1890s. In the field of finishing and artistic work on glass, inviting foreign craftsmen was a necessity, then in the 1900s. Russia is forming its own cadre of professional stained glass artists. The training of specialists was organized in educational institutions of the capital: in 1895 - in the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of Arts, in 1899. - at the Central School of Technical Drawing of Baron A. L. Stieglitz.

Thus, by the beginning of the 20th century. Russia had everything necessary for the successful development of stained glass. Multi-colored windows have ceased to be a luxury item and have become available to a large number of customers. The use of stained glass in St. Petersburg buildings at the beginning of the 20th century became widespread. Mansions, churches, hospitals, schools, shops, restaurants, theaters and even baths were decorated with stained glass windows. At the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries. The terminological designation of a stained glass work also changed: from “transparency”, “painting on glass” or “glass picture” of the 19th century – to “glass mosaic” in the 1880s - 1890s. Then terms appeared in the Russian vocabulary that emphasized the function of stained glass as a decorative window: “patterned window”, “vitro” (vitro or vitreau). Only in the 1900s. The word “stained glass” appeared in the Russian language.

Russian stained glass windows of the late 19th – early 20th centuries. reflected the basic principles of the Art Nouveau style. The basis of his artistic and decorative practice was the imitation of natural forms in all the diversity of their manifestations.

With the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the volume of glass production in Russia decreased, construction activity in the country, and with it the production of finishing materials, was stopped. After the October Revolution, all large private industries were nationalized. Stained glass workshops, which existed almost exclusively within the structure of large glass-industrial associations, ceased to exist. Thus, the short history of Russian stained glass was interrupted. Only in the 1930s. In Soviet architecture, interest in polychrome translucent compositions arose again, which constituted a completely different era - Soviet stained glass art with its own themes, new materials, finds and experiments.

The inaccessibility of stained glass to the general population despite the strong desire to still have them, for example, during the Soviet period, led to the emergence of various substitute technologies.

Modern stained glass is obtained through the use of many different technologies. Glass can be transparent and dull, uniform in color and a mixture of different colors and shades of the same color, smooth and with a variety of textures.

Thanks to the efforts of historians and museum curators, ancient Russian stained glass windows are gradually returning to us from oblivion: they become known from archival documents, some are discovered in museum storage facilities. They are restored and displayed at exhibitions.

Stained glass art– fragile and at the same time monumental. The content and color scheme of a particular window depended entirely on the wishes of the customer. It combines the functions of a decorative and architectural element, as well as a canvas that requires exquisite painting. By exploring all stages of the development of this art form, one can trace important historical and social changes in culture and society. Stained glass windows could depict patrons, nobles, royalty, angels and saints in the Middle Ages, heroes during the Reformation and Renaissance, and are always a treasure and cultural asset, a reflection of the religious and social system of European civilization.