Protective glazing destroyed the play of light in the Cathedral of Chartres
Medieval stained glass windows are sensitive. To protect them against acid rain, they are often prefixed by protective glazing from the outside. A newly developed, patented technology wants to imitate the external view of the windows – including the lead rods – with an enamelled and heat-shaped glass. The internal effect of the church, as a spiritual space, has offered – over the centuries – all visitors a special place, thanks primarily to the incident light of the sun. What is special and unique about designed windows is that they reach far into the room which they influence due to the steering of coloured light. This diffusion of light was and is an essential expression not only of medieval spirituality. All this is no more now in Chartres.
Gradually we begin to comprehend the full extent of this protective measure. The glass artists Florian Lechner from Germany and Udo Zembok, France, have sent their criticism to UNESCO, Paris, and already obtained the commitment for a qualifying examination by the technical committees thereof.
"Against the Sun and the Spirit"
"Whoever was once dipped into the coloured light and the sound of a cathedral,
who was once covered by this supernatural light and has experienced himself as irradiated person will not be able to understand that a new technology is used, which erases the spirit of coloured light. (Florian Lechner)
Windows that no longer spread, expand and make tangible their radiance and imaging in the space, become mindless, neutered, stripped of its essential property. This is happening in the Cathedral of Chartres. "
Florian Lechner
Read more on the technique:
-VERRES THERMOFORMES POUR PROTECTION DES VITRAUX
http://www.debitus.com/fra/verriere.html
