Modern tools recreate a mediaeval art form

December 8, 2006 Glass is a jewel-like substance made sand and transformed by fire. Its origins are as distant as the discovery of the wheel, and within a short time, we learned to colour it. Stained glass windows came along 1700 years ago when Constantine first permitted Christians to worship openly in 313 A.D., and came to prominence a millennium ago when substantial church building began in France, Germany and England. The earliest surviving example of pictorial stained glass is from the tenth century Lorsch Abbey in Germany. Now this mediaeval art form is being recreated in the 21st Century, using the latest in digital technology. "In the Womb of the Rose" is a unique, digitally created stained glass window, produced by worldwide collaborators via the internet. Traditionally, stained glass windows, or ‘rose’ windows, featured in medieval churches, telling stories from the Bible using recognisable iconography and symbolism, using the skills of many glass artists to create the final monumental artwork.

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