The history of glass windows surprisingly goes back much further than you may imagine. Whilst naturally formed glass has been around since before the birth of mankind, the actual first instance of man making glass came in around 3500 B. C. The people of Mesopotamia managed to manufacture their own glass which they used to decorate pots and other vessels.
The first instance of glass being used for windows in buildings, especially in Britain, was during the period of the Romans. In the 1st century A. D. It is known that the Romans used glass for a variety of reasons including mosaic tiles, decorating pottery and as windows. It seems that the glass window became more popular with the advent of churches and other places to worship. Most of the earliest examples of Roman window glass are coloured, suggesting that they were stained-glass windows from churches, for example.
It was not until the 13th century that the manufacture of glass for windows really took off. The skill of producing sheet glass had been mastered by the Germans in the 11th century and perfected by the Venetians by the 13th century.
During the 14th century, the French managed to perfect the art of blown plate glass (this is where it is hand blown then grinded and polished to look smooth). They also perfected Crown glass which was hand-blown glass that was flattened completely. The French were reluctant to divulge their manufacturing secrets before the 17th century, resulting in Crown glass and blown plate glass not being manufactured anywhere else until this time. Until the 19th century the world saw the rise in popularity of these two types of glass for making windows.
After the decline in popularity of Crown glass and blown plate glass, it was the turn of flat sheet glass. This type was used in windows up until the First World War, in particular for many of the sash windows you can see on older buildings today. After this time, it fell to floating glass, which was designed by Sir Alistair Pilkington in the 1950s, to rise to the top of the popularity stakes.
The history of glass windows does not stop there as we have new, modern types of glass that are found in most of our modern buildings. This includes toughened safety glass and laminated glass, used in many of the double glazing units in use in homes today. The process of making glass for windows is continually evolving, including the wonderful Smart glass that can change the amount of light a window has at the touch of a button.
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