The Evolution of Window Glass

The Evolution of Window Glass

, , ,


The first window glass, although very imperfect, appeared at the beginning of the Christian era at the Romans. However, after the fall of the Roman Empire, the secrets of its production were lost and in the initial period of the Middle Ages in Europe they did not know the window glass. The question naturally arises, what was in the windows? Often the windows were closed with solid wooden shutters. On warm days, they opened, letting daylight into the room. At other times, the windows were closed, and the room was lit with candles.

Mica Window
Mica Window
 In some palaces, ceremonial buildings and religious buildings in Europe, mica plates were inserted into small cells in window openings. Such plates were very expensive. In the homes of ordinary people for this purpose, a bull bladder and oiled paper or cloth were used. In the middle of the XVI century even in the palaces of the French kings, the windows were closed with oiled linen or paper. Only in the middle of the XVII century under Louis XIV, the glass appeared in the windows of his palace in the form of small squares inserted into a lead window sash. For a long time, they did not know how to get sheet glass of a large area. Therefore, even in the XVIII century, glass-covered windows had a small window sash.

European Glass Windows in the 18th Century
European Glass Windows in the 18th Century
As already mentioned, the Romans learned how to make window glass in the last years before Christ. They did this by casting and rolling the liquid glass into a mold in the form of a baking sheet, which was made of clay. The castings were removed from the mold while still hot and the glass was plastic. In this way, window glass with a thickness of about 10 mm and an area up to 0.5 m² was obtained. Since the side of the sheet adjacent to the shape turned out to be rough, the glass was not transparent.

Share this: