Stained Glass Windows
Gothic Cathedrals
By Michelle Cardenas

Gothic Cathedrals
• Life revolved around faith
• Place to celebrate life
• Central place for business
• Commemoration of…
• Heroes
• Villains
• Bishops
• Kings
• Donors
• Common people

• Process
• Pattern
• Cut
• Grind
• Foil
• Lay out
• Solder
• Finish
Stained Glass

Chartres Cathedral
• Chartres, France
• High Gothic
• 1193-1250 AD

Chartres-Windows
• 64 sections
• Original 152 of
186
• 21,000 square feet
• Flying buttress

Chartres-Subject
• Biblical stories
• Legends of the saints
• Lives of heroes
• Medieval life

Chartres – West end
• Rose Window 43 feet in diameter
• 3 Lancets
– Passion
– Incarnation
– Tree of Jesse

Chartres-
Other important windows
• North Rose
• South Rose
• Blue Virgin

Amiens Cathedral
• Amiens, Picardie, France
• High Gothic
• Tallest Gothic church
• Largest cathedral in France
• Double flying buttresses

Amiens-West window
• Aka “Flamboyant”
• Main entrance

Amiens-East window
• Choir and alter

North transept
• North window
• Flamboyant

South transept
• No stained glass windows

Virgin’s chapel
• Right side of west facade

Notre-Dame Cathedral
• Paris, France
• Most popular monument
• Aka “Our Lady of Paris”
• Flying buttresses

Notre Dame-West Rose window
• Approximately 33 feet in diameter
• Mostly original glass
• Blocked by the great organ
• Theme-Human life

Notre Dame-South Rose window
• Installed around 1260
• Approximately 42 feet in diameter
• Themes
– New Testament
– Triumph of Christ
– The number four

Notre Dame-North Rose window
• Installed 1250 AD
• 42 feet in diameter
• Theme-Old Testament with Virgin & child

Notre Dame-Other windows
• Use of fours

Works Cited
• Cathedral. Narr. David Macaulay. Videocassette. PBS Home Video, 1985.
• Davies, Penelope J.E., et al. Janson’s History of Art: The Western Tradition. 7 th ed.
New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007.
• Hayes, Holly. “Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris.” Sacred Destinations . 29 Mar. 2010.
Web. 3 Dec. 2010. <http://www.sacreddestinations.com/france/paris-notredame-cathedral>.
• Kleiner, Fred S. Gardner’s Art Through the Ages: A Concise Western History. 2 nd ed.
United States: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010.
• Suncatchers and More .
n.p
. Web. 4 April 2011.
<http//:suncatchersandmore.com/designing.php>.
• Wilson, Christopher. The Gothic Cathedral. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd, 1990.