Natural Lighting in St Denis Abbey, France - Thesis Example

By 15 BC, the Roman people made use of natural light in buildings given the unavailability of artificial light, and natural light became the domain of the architect. The need for natural lighting led to the introduction of windows that used glass panes. The invention of glass dates back to 2500 BC in Mesopotamia. Originally, the use of glass in religious buildings served a decorative role with colour being an essential attribute of glass. It is these attributes that religious people explored to create stained and art glass windows in places of worship.

According to religious people, the art or stains on glass were light enough to allow light streams to pass through while projecting plays of colour and light throughout the interior spaces. Over time, art glass in religious architecture became part of religious culture. Although religious architecture is extremely complex for lack of shared basic characteristics amongst all religions, most religions embrace art glass in their architecture (Anon., 2011). For instance, Muslims and Christians’ embracing of art glass dates back to the middle ages when both introduced large-scale colour art glass windows.

Back then, art was elevated as a symbol of the divine while adding colour, light, and beauty. For the worshippers, these windows shared the faith teachings with worshippers through secular and Christian scenes present in art glass design. For the Christians, the windows were used by the clergy to teach the gospel. One of the major roles of glass, evident in France during the 12th century, was the provision of natural lighting. This light was equated with beauty and goodness while stained glass window was preferred for its superb connection to daylight.

The value of natural lighting through the glass was defined by Philosopher Abbot Suger as “Divine light” based on his reasoning that through natural light, God could be experienced by humans spiritually. This has led to the adoption of art glass in large-scale windows.  Philosopher Abbot Suger of St-Dennis emphasized the use of natural lighting over the gold and the expenses incurred in art saying that brightness in art was nobler and brightens even the minds such that they travel through the true lights (Cambridge, 2014).