European Stained Glass Window Craft

Timeline

1. 1161–1165Notre-Dame de Paris · ParisConstruction of the nave of Notre-Dame de Paris began in 1163, with architects and glass artisans jointly designing the clerestory and rose window openings. In the mid-1160s, glass workshops in Paris and the Champagne region colored flat glass with metal oxides such as cobalt, manganese, and copper, producing red, blue, and green sheets that were cut to geometric and figural outlines and assembled with lead came, forming the basic technical paradigm of early Gothic stained glass windows.
2. 1166–1170Sens and Laon · Champagne and PicardyIn the late 1160s, the cathedrals of Sens and Laon advanced the installation of west facade and aisle windows, with stained glass expanding from small mosaic panes into continuous narrative bands, faces and drapery drawn on the glass surface with black enamel. Artisan guilds divided labor among glass blowing, cutting, lead soldering, and on-site installation, and technical standards spread with the Gothic style to England and the Rhineland.