Cast glass window pane

What it is

Panes of greenish glass cast on flat moulds and set into wooden or bronze frames, used in baths and villas. The first separation between light and weather in architecture.

What it led to

• Heated rooms and baths with natural light and no heat loss
• Greenhouses (specularia) for growing produce out of season
• Medieval stained glass and luminous Gothic architecture
• Modern glazed façades

Built on

• Hypocaustc. 100 BCE
• Roman public bathsc. 100 BCE
• Glassblowingc. 50 BCE
• Roman baths

Made possible

• Stained glass windowc. 1100
• Greenhouse
• Crown glass

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