Through Glass, Brightly

Stained glass windows are the Holy Scriptures because they shut out wind and rain; and since their brilliance lets the splendor of the True Light pass into the church, they enlighten those inside.

So the great 12th century Augustinian monk, Hugh of St. Victor, explained the uniquely European religious art form that turned Gothic cathedrals into lanterns of light. Today a new generation of Christian churches (more than 3,000 in West Germany alone) has arisen. Once again artisans of stained glass have been called back into service to enliven, enrich and ennoble houses of worship (see color pages).

Concrete Curtains. For medieval master builders, the most permanent material came from local quarries. Today the commonest material is steel-reinforced concrete, a fine example of which is the cathedral-sized church of Notre Dame in Royan. Pioneered in Europe by the late French architect Auguste Ferret, it makes possible spans and spires undreamed of by medieval minds. To fill in the voids, glass craftsmen have been called upon to hang handsome curtains that would have as tonished Gothic glassmakers. These new, iridescent walls of glass lend a ripple of color to otherwise oatmeal-grey concrete. The glassmakers must work hand in hand with the architect. Says France's best-known glass designer, Gabriel Loire, 60: "We do not come in at the last moment just to fill in holes."

This renascence in church architecture was chronicled by Princeton-educated Architect G. E. Kidder Smith, 51, who spent the past five successive summers touring Europe. To write his recent book, The New Churches of Europe, he visited nearly 400 churches from the Arctic Circle to the Mediterranean, picked 60 to illustrate.

Abstract Lenses. The magnificent Gothic cathedrals, Kidder Smith points out, "were designed for a fearsomely omnipotent deity, a procession-laden liturgy and a priestly autocracy, which certainly does not answer the problems of today's ethos." New churches must touch the individual in a modern, more personal way; their stained glass can no longer be a luminous Bible full of a panoply of cartoon parables for the illiterate. Says Loire: "The glass should not be a distraction, but it should aid people to enter into themselves."

Contemporary glass attempts inspiration without narrative. It is also more part and parcel of the architecture. In a blend of concrete and glass called Be-tonglas, Loire melds translucent chunks of 623 shades, provided by the Saint-Gobain glassworks, with concrete forms. Free as a mosaic maker, he often chips away the edges of his glass slabs, making them into odd lenses that scatter light haphazardly.

Actually, the demands placed on modern stained glass exceed even those imposed on Gothic craftsmanship. For Berlin's Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, Loire constructed 22,000 foot-square glass blocks. No two are alike; all are completely abstract. The canons of modern architecture can make a well-lit garage as well as a bright cathedral, but building to enlighten man's soul requires a special illumination. Says Glassmaker Loire: "A stained glass window should be something unreal--something between heaven and earth--which, in fact, it literally is."

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