Stained and Dome Glass Structure
About Stained Glass
The glass is colored during its manufacturing process by adding oxides metals to the glass basic composition, and then, the glass is cut according to its requested design for a window or any other shape, then it is collected and formed by metal strips. The metal strips are often lead with the possibility usage of zinc and copper
Why it is called Stained Glass
By inserting the glass inside lead metal strips channels, as known in the Arabic language Ala'sheq (interleaving) and Almashooq (interleaved), which is the reason the glass is interleaved by lead, then the glass is called Ala'sheq, and the lead is called Almashooq. Based on the use of these strips, the decoration of the glass is formed which results in getting the required design.
The Commencement of this Art.
This art dates back to the Middle Ages in Europe, when the poor used to collect the remains of glass from the waste of the rich, after they collect the glass, paste and assemble the glass one side to the other to form covers for their huts windows, so a nice pattern was innovated. This draw the attention of the wealthy who admired this idea and improved it by skilled craftsmen. This is how colored stained glass became adorned on the facades of palaces, cathedrals and churches windows.
For a long time it was necessary to input the wonderful colored glass in the construction process to build palaces and buildings. Later, this art moved from Europe to the Islamic architecture world, where the skilled builders mastered it throughout the Islamic history by using it as a key element of decoration which gave beauty and charm to the Islamic architecture. The stained glass windows spread with stucco "gypsum", as a manifestation of Islamic architecture. Some of the most famous places that used stained glass in the composition of exquisite paintings windows are in the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, the Mosque of Amr ibn al-Aas in Fustat and Ahmad Ibn Tulun Mosque in Egypt.
The Usage of Stained Glass
It is often used in windows and in crescent shape windows to allow sunlight enter inside a place, which the sunlight spectrum colors penetrate into the inside. The Stained Glass is also used as a form of domes or pyramid to cover a particular place or to protect places from rain fall
Features of Stained Glass
The stained glass is placed in lead and in two layers of cleared glass to become 18 mm thick, which is an excellent insulator of heat, humidity and sound. The stained glass is protected by the layers of the transparent glass which is guaranteed for a whole life, unless it was exposed to breakage. Glass colors are never affected by sunshine, since it has been colored during the glass manufacturing process with metal oxides. If the stained glass was exposed to brokerage, it can be easily re-fixed without the need of replacement of another whole piece