Stained glass designs have not always had the common applications that you see all around you as you walk in the streets of your town or even inside your house. There was a time when stained glass was not used for aesthetic purposes, but served educational and even spiritual functions. Some of the earliest forms of stained glass are actually cathedral stained glass
designs which were used as a religious form of art. Some churches today are still using the cathedral stained glass to serve spiritual and informational purposes. If you were to travel all around the world, you will realize that there are some common subjects and themes that seem to be depicted in all the cathedral stained glass windows of the world. The following is a list of the most popular themes.
Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit
Many cathedral stained glass windows depict images of Jesus Christ. However, some of the churches and cathedral avoid the use of these picturesque images and instead use symbols to depict the same figure. You would therefore find some churches having shapes of the cross, which also symbolizes Jesus Christ. A white dove or a halo around the head of Jesus Christ is often used to symbolize the Holy Spirit in most of these cathedral stained glass designs.
The Saints of the Bible
Another common cathedral stained glass depiction is that one of the biblical saints. They represent some of the significant people in Christianity as the bible relays their stories. The stained glass designs would often depict a man or a woman with a halo around their head to represent the saints. Some of the symbols also show how some of these saints were killed during their times of martyrdom.
Major Biblical Events
You should have noted by now that the main reason for most of these cathedral stained glass artworks was to artistically represent events and people in the Bible and in a way bring them to life. Therefore, you will find some of these stained glass designs depicting biblical events such as the last supper, the ascension of Jesus Christ or Moses carrying the Ten Commandments down the mountain of Sinai. The reasons for depicting such events vary from inspirational reasons o educational reasons.
The Life of Jesus
There are many stained glass designs that depict the life of Jesus in the various stages of his life. This is because Jesus is the centerpiece of the Christian faith, therefore, you will commonly find cathedral stained glass pieces depicting Jesus as a baby in a manger, as a young boy all the way until his death.
Virgin Mary
The final most common symbol in cathedral stained glass windows and artworks is that of the Virgin Mary; who is the earthly mother of Jesus. She is often depicted carrying Jesus when he was still a baby and most of the glass artworks depict her wearing blue robes. There are many more symbols and design such as the apostles and even images of the bible itself. |
