Stained glass is a type of monumental, monumental-decorative art, a thematic (plot) or decorative ornamental composition, made of transparent multi-colored glass and designed for visual perception in the light. They are used to fill window openings of various sizes and shapes, separate panels in partitions between rooms with varying degrees of illumination, sometimes in doors, in niches with lighting, etc. It is usually mounted on a metal frame made of pieces of glass (which can be etched or chemically etched, and colored in different colors) with lead, tin tape filling the joints between them.
In addition, you can draw on the glasses with contour paints, which allows you to depict small details (for example, eyes). To fix the contour paint, it was melted into the glass in special stained glass furnaces.
Stained glass occupied a special place in art during the heyday of Art Nouveau architecture. Previous experience contributed to the improvement of the technologies of creating stained glass windows. Then they gave up copying paintings and started creating unique compositions considering the specifics of working with the materials used.
Tiffany technology
The American designer Louis Comfort Tiffany improved both the production of the glass itself and the technology of making stained glass windows. He was the owner of a glass factory and also created new varieties of glass with color ranges. This glass did not require additional surface treatment, and after cutting according to the patterns, you can immediately start forming the future stained glass window. Instead of lead, Tiffany used copper membranes, and fixed the finished image with tin solders.
Art Nouveau stained glass windows in Lviv
It was Art Nouveau, which connected art with modern life and at the same time proclaimed nature as the only source of creativity, gravitated towards the artistic embodiment of dynamic balance in the interaction between man and nature. Sunlight became one of the most successful natural tools that contributed to the realization of their ideas.
It was with the flourishing of art nouveau that stained glass windows became the decoration of urban architecture, administrative and public buildings, residential premises or functional things, such as screens, chandeliers, advertising signs, etc. And therefore – an integral part of everyday life.
The main compositional method was the combination of geometric and rapport division and the addition of stylized plant elements between them. These are mostly hanging garlands of leaves and flowers (for example, stained-glass windows at 7 Saksaganskoho St.; 77 I. Franka St.; 3 Grigorenko Square) or a restrained ornamental ribbon around the perimeter (50 Mushaka St.; Listopadovoy St. Chinu, 5; Gorska Street, although vases with flowers (Sichovy Striltsiv, 9; Malanyuka Square, 7) or medallions (Soborna Square) are not uncommon. Stained glass becomes not just a window, but takes on the functions of color accents, without which the interior is no longer perceived as a whole.
Stained glass windows also become simply irreplaceable, because they enliven the monotony of the interior of stairwells and hide courtyards.
The best example of such a solution is the 11-meter stained-glass screen at the address of the street. I. Bilozira, 6, which as a whole rises to the height of four floors. The composition of this landscape when moving to each next floor creates the impression of rising from the underground kingdom through the forest, lake and mountains and up into the clouds to the sky.
Another interesting example is several stained glass windows in the building of Lviv Radio (Kn. Romana Street, 6). They hide the view of the inner courtyard and the elevator shaft, and several are in the wall between the corridor and the offices. It was not only modern and aesthetically pleasing, but also economical in terms of artificial lighting expenses.
In total, there are more than 50 entrances with glass ceilings in Lviv. Most of them are made of colorless textured glass (8 Bogomoletsa St.; 22 Zelena St.; 11, 13, 15 Levytskogo St.; 6 Teatralna St.). However, polychrome stained glass ceilings are not uncommon (1 Gogolya St.; 26 T. Shevchenko Ave.; 13 Serbska St.; 12 I. Vakarchuk St.).
There are plenty of examples of such stained glass ceilings in Lviv as well. The last of the listed groups, in particular, includes the glazing of a residential building at the address of st. Bogomoletsa, 8 (1906–1907, architect E. Nagirnyi). Lighting of the stairwell during the day is provided by a semi-oval monochrome lampshade in the art nouveau style, the contours of which repeat the shape of the stairwells. It should be noted that such glazing is maximally harmonized with the interior of the stairwell (its shape, artistic metal railings, the shape of window and door frames, etc.).
Architects, as a rule, immediately predicted the location, size and color solution of stained glass windows, because stained glass was and still is the element that combined the interior of the room and the exterior of the building. In any perspective from both sides of the view, it occupied a key place in the building thanks to its active compositions and brightness. However, now, due to martial law and the threat of daily rocket attacks, the stained glass windows are protected and most of them are not available for viewing.
Sources:
Stained glass – VUE
Shumska M. V. Decorative glazing as an element of the architecture of residential and administrative buildings of the city of Lviv in the secession period
Hrymalyuk R. Stained glass windows of Lviv at the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century. – Lviv.: 2004
Photo: Heritage Bureau, from the book “Stained-glass windows of Lviv at the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century”, press service of the Lviv City Council
