How Has Glass Been Used In Architecture Through The Ages?

Since holes in walls were first invented, glass wasn't far behind. But as a craft, the use of glass for stained glass windows is one of the oldest and most ancient, with its roots stretching back a millennium or more.

But even before the technology was sufficiently mature to manufacture window-sized sheets of glass, humans were using coloured pieces of glass to form spectacular mosaic-type patterns and objects. Formed when hot lava came into contact with sand, humans have been using glass as a material in one manner or another from the earliest times.

The Golden Age of glass, so to speak, was during the Middle Ages when generations of cathedral-builders vied to outdo one another with the magnificence of their stained glass windows. Churches of any significance were not complete until they had a full complement of stained glass feature windows.

The glass-fronted skyscrapers of today are only with us due to a technique that enabled production of sheets of glass 20 sq ft square and an inch thick.