Purpose

• Initially, stained glass windows were a to educate a mostly illiterate population about the Bible and God. Theophilus, a twelfth-century German monk and artist, wrote in "Diverse Arts" that stained glass windows helped "lift men's souls closer to God."
  
  

Window subjects

• Each window can portray an event such as the birth of Christ, a symbol such as chalice or dove, or a scene from the Bible or a saint's life.
  
  

Use of Panels

• Parables or longer stories are often "take place" over several windows (panels).
  
  

Rose Windows

• The rose window style uses many small pictures laid out in a circular frame and placed prominently at an entrance or above an altar. The most famous example is the Rose Window at Notre Dame in Paris.
  
  

Use of Light

• Artists use certain colors and placement to take advantage of sunlight at different times of day. When lit from the inside, the windows come alive to the outside world.