Welsh stained glass windows go online

More than 2,000 images of stained glass windows in churches across Wales have been made available for viewing online for the first time.

The database showcases windows from the medieval to the modern, and are an ideal resource for people interested in church history.

The windows have been photographed and catalogued online as part of a project by the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies.

The archive includes imported continental glass, work by the large Victorian firms and artists of the arts and crafts movement, and more recent windows by artists trained and based in Wales from the second half of the twentieth century up to the present day.

Visitors to the website can search for windows thematically by date, artist or location.

Funding for the project ended before a full survey of all stained glass in Welsh churches could be completed, but the centre hopes that the catalogue will be expanded in the future.

The project was initiated by the artist and photographer Martin Crampin.

He said: “Stained glass is part of the visual vocabulary of many of our churches, and a pictorial manifestation of the church’s faith and tradition.

"Yet often little is known of the artists or studios that made them, and sometimes the meaning of the windows is unclear to those that worship in their midst today.”



On the web: stainedglass.llgc.org.uk