T. V. Knyazhitskaya
Magazine “Museum World”, July 2011.
Windows perform two main tasks: they protect the room from adverse environmental conditions and let in light. The shape of window openings and the material used to fill them are determined by the climatic conditions of a particular region and the natural resources available there. The peoples of Europe and Asia used various materials to fill windows and decorate them. Ornamental lattices made of alabaster in the countries of the East, translucent stone plates in Romanesque Europe, colored glass in the Middle Ages... In Ancient Rus', holes cut in the log walls of houses were covered with bull and fish bladders, canvas, paper, rawhide, in the northern regions - with ice plates that did not melt for most of the year, and mica (1). Mica is a natural mineral that, due to its layered structure, easily splits into thin translucent plates. Mica mining was one of the important Russian crafts; it was expensive, from 15 to 150 rubles per pood, depending on the type (2), and only rich people “glazed” their windows with it. Only in those places where deposits of this mineral came to the surface - along the banks of the Angara and Lena rivers - did peasants have the opportunity to use it (3). Mica was one of the export items: it was exported both to the East by “Persian merchants” and to the West by “Frankish and Greek merchants and anyone who comes here, because this stone is only available here” (4). Russian mica was considered the best in the world and was known in Western Europe under the name “muscovite” (5). There was an exclusive royal right to large layers of mica: “Everything that is more than one arshin in length and width belongs to the royal monopoly and cannot be openly sold to any private individuals” (6). Windows from buildings of the nobility and royal palaces even in the 16th-17th centuries. were covered with mica (7). In Rus' at that time it was called “crystal”, “Moscow glass”.
Small pieces of mica were sewn together (mica windows “thread-sewn”) or attached with small nails to tin strips, under which the edges of the plates were placed overlapping (8). By combining many pieces of mica of different sizes, the craftsmen gave the window the appearance of an ordered geometric grid or ornament, sometimes with an image in the center. There is information dating back to the 17th century that mica windows were painted with paints depicting flowers and herbs, animals and birds. Thus, in 1667, the painter Ivan Saltanov was ordered to paint the mica window in the mansion of the young Tsarevich Peter Alekseevich - the future Emperor Peter I - “in the circle of the eagle, in the corners of the grass, and paint it so that you could see through it from the mansion, and from the courtyard into mansions, so that it is not visible” (9). In 1692, in the mansions of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich - the son of Peter I - mica windows were painted so as not to “see through them.” Various images of people, animals and birds covered the mica windows in the Pereslavl Palace of Peter I. Some of them have survived. The painted mica windows resembled Western European stained glass windows in their appearance and probably “deceived” foreigners. Thus, in the engraving “Reception of the Swedish Ambassador Count Oxenstern on March 30, 1674 in the Golden Chamber of the Kremlin Palace (from the diary of Eric Palmquist)” half-length images of people are clearly readable in the large windows. This window design is a cabinet type of stained glass, widespread in Europe in secular buildings. Probably, foreigners perceived Russian mica windows as decorative glazing, equivalent to European stained glass windows. That is why the artist “conjectured” the missing image of a person on the window plane.
There is a lot in common between European stained glass windows and ancient Russian mica windows: the typesetting principle of window filling, the presence of a dark linear outline made of metal, and in some cases, painting. Only the materials and methods of joining the elements into a single whole differed: in Russian windows there were mica plates sewn or fastened with nails with strips of “white iron” covering the seams, in Europe there were pieces of flat glass connected with lead profiled wire with soldering at the joints of the structure. Mica windows had a utilitarian purpose and played a decorative role in the interior thanks to the ordered pattern of geometric elements in the frame, unlike most Western European stained glass windows, which in most cases also carried a certain content in the plot, be it coats of arms, gallant or biblical scenes, portraits . Mica windows can be recognized as the Russian analogue of Western European stained glass. Paper and fabric linings introduced color into the translucent ornamental composition.
Information about painted mica windows dates back only to the 17th century. Judging by the surviving samples, the drawings on them go back to Western European engravings of the late Renaissance (10). Birds that look like parrots, eagles, a musician with a violin, horse warriors, tulip flowers - this is a list of images on one of the surviving windows in Pereslavl-Zalessky. 
Probably, the painting on the windows appeared as an imitation of picturesque European stained glass, which by that time was known not only from engravings and personal impressions of Russian travelers abroad, but also from specific samples brought from Europe and located in the royal palaces and houses of the court nobility. There were stained glass windows in the windows of the house of princes Vasily and Alexei Golitsyn, “which is in the White City, between Tverskaya and Dmitrovka streets” (11). The windows in the upper large dining room of Prince Vasily Golitsyn, the main room of the house, were especially impressively decorated. Here, two rows of windows were glazed (unprecedented luxury at that time): “there are 46 windows in two zones with glass windows, in places there is glass from the face,” in addition, “on the two upper windows” there was an image, apparently, of two angels: “ two persons are painted; they have hair and wings; they are wearing a dress: one has the lower one of ore-yellow taffeta, and the upper one of white fur; on the other, the lower atlas is celiac, and the upper is white.” Even Patriarch Filaret succumbed to the secular hobby: “in 1633, in the Cross Painted Tent ... “ornate glass windows with herbs and birds” were bought from the German Davyd Mikulaev for 5 rubles. 14 alt. 4 money" (12). Another example: in January 1675, the foreigner Jan made “nine large glass colored endings” (13) in the chambers of boyar Kirill Naryshkin. The glass was inserted into lead frames that looked like a geometric grid: such windows were called checkered and lattice windows. They were assembled from imported materials (both glass and lead were imported), often by foreign craftsmen. Such stained glass 
made of multi-colored glass or slightly colored mica plates assembled into a pattern complemented the colorful decor of the palace interiors of the 17th century. The daylight coming through the colored windows created a special, joyful mood and made the interior cozy. Mica was a common material in the windows of merchant and boyar houses, churches, executive chambers, and huts of wealthy peasants. Its mass displacement by glass began only in the 18th century and first affected the houses of wealthy people, in whose windows mica and glass coexisted for a long time (14), and in some regions of the country mica windows were preserved until the beginning of the 20th century (15). 
The seventeenth century remained the time of greatest prosperity in the history of mica windows. From that period, wonderful mica pots created by Russian artisans have come down to us. Today, these aged wooden frames with cobweb patterns are perceived as perfect works of decorative and applied art, not inferior in their effectiveness to ornamental European stained glass windows.
Old Russian window frames suffered the same fate as many other items of bygone everyday life. Most of them disappeared into time irrevocably; a small part was preserved by museums. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the famous historian of Russian art Igor Grabar wrote: “The culture of life inexorably banished this picturesque and primitive protection from the cold and wind and replaced it with prosaic glass. This change took place not so long ago, and in some places the ancient windows, stacked in the attics and storerooms of wooden and even stone churches, are still intact” (16).
If back in the 19th and even at the beginning of the 20th century, here and there in the outback one could find mica windows, today they are preserved only in museums as signs of the forever-gone way of life of our ancestors. Many museums have mica-filled window frames in their collections. Better or worse preserved, sometimes assembled from several frames with mica filling, almost all of them have similar preservation problems, including loss of the canvas, delamination of mica plates, crumbling paint layer. The main enemies of mica are time and humidity, which mercilessly exfoliate once dense thin plates and turn them into a shiny scree. Only a few examples are presented at exhibitions and expositions. Most are hidden in museum storage rooms. Collections of mica windows are located in the museums of the Moscow Kremlin, the State Historical Museum, the Kolomenskoye Museum-Reserve, the State Hermitage, and the Pereslavl-Zalessky Museum-Reserve. I would like to say especially about the latter. More than 50 17th-century windows come from the palace of Peter I on the shore of Lake Pleshcheevo. Back in 1803, a museum was founded here, where the memory of the Great Russian Tsar-Reformer was carefully preserved. Most of the windows from the collection of this museum date back to the end of the 17th century; they probably come from the same production center, as evidenced by the pattern of applied tin elements - burrs, the same sizes of metal elements, and the color of the mica plates. There are several unique painted specimens here. Judging by the inventory, there were two such windows. Unique monuments of decorative and applied art of the 17th century are in need of restoration.
Making stained glass was not a folk craft in Ancient Rus', unlike artistic glassmaking, for example, in the Czech Republic and Germany. Harsh natural and climatic conditions did not allow increasing the window openings in buildings, and the atmosphere of Orthodox worship and the spatial organization of the temple did not provide opportunities for the development of stained glass art in Russia. This happened much later, after industrial production of flat glass was established in the country and conditions for the development of stained glass art had developed in Russian artistic life. It is interesting that at the beginning of the 19th century, when “Gothic glass”, as stained glass was called then, came into fashion, the first design drawings of domestic stained glass windows resembled ancient Russian mica windows. For example, the windows of a poultry house in Rybinsk were decorated with a rhombic pattern of multi-colored glass, traditional for mica windows. When the wave of passion for Gothic subsided, stained glass remained a fashionable detail in interior decoration. Appeal to various periods of world artistic culture gave artists and architects the opportunity to use stained glass in interiors of a wide variety of stylistic orientations: “Renaissance”, “Oriental”, “Ancient” and, of course, “Russian”. Decorated windows, along with wooden carvings, tiled stoves and wall paintings became the most sought-after details when creating the look of “Russian” interiors, which were associated with the rich housing of the Russian Middle Ages.
In the Terem Chambers of the Moscow Kremlin, reconstructed by the architect F. G. Solntsev, multi-colored pieces of glass in the windows, assembled in a rhombic pattern, were direct “heirs” of ancient Russian window frames. Over time, more sophisticated stylizations appeared. Thus, in the Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace in St. Petersburg, not only the stained glass panel in the Oak Living Room, but also the glass itself: layered, uneven, barely tinted, resembles layered, slightly shimmering mica.
The end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century was a time of new understanding of the ancient Russian heritage, the appearance of works in the spirit of national romanticism. In paintings, architectural projects, and sketches by artists of this period, the motif of a window with a figured frame and patterned, sometimes colored filling is often used. Often it is this that gives the image a national flavor. Over time, the very presence of a patterned window in the interior has turned into a kind of stamp, sending the viewer to the era of the Russian Middle Ages.
In terms of strength and light transmittance, mica cannot compete with glass. That is why glass is still used in windows created according to the models of ancient mica glass.
Modern masters of artistic glassmaking focus their work mainly on Western European stained glass art; some works trace connections with Russian art of the late 19th - early 20th centuries, and through it, indirectly, with the culture of Ancient Rus'.
The well-known heritage of Russian medieval everyday culture is mica windows, a material that is still little studied. An article by Igor Kiselev, published in 1981 in the magazine “Decorative Art” (17) and his recommendations on measurements and descriptions of mica windows in the reference book “Architectural details in Russian architecture of the 18th-19th centuries” (18), which summarized his experience as a restorer , remain the most complete studies about this phenomenon of the bygone way of life of our country.
1. Tydman L.V. Palace. House. Izba. Residential interior of Russia from 1700 to 1840s. M., 2000. P.176, 290.
2. Morozov A. A. M. V. Lomonosov. The path to maturity. 1711-1741. M.-L., 1962. P.20.
3. Tydman L.V. Decree. Op. P.290-291.
4. Kurts B. G. Kielburger’s essay on Russian trade during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich. Kyiv, 1915. P.284.
5. Morozov A. A. M. V. Lomonosov. The path to maturity. 1711-1741. M.-L., 1962. P.20.
6. Kurts B. G. Decree. Op. P. 104.
7. Tseytlin M. A. Decree. Op. P.18.
8. Kiselev I. Mica windows. / “Decorative art of the USSR”. N 4. 1981. P. 18.
9. Zabelin I. E. Ibid. P.142.
10. Artistic and aesthetic culture of Ancient Rus' XI-XVII centuries. M., 1996. P. 428.
11. Painting and valuation of the property of princes Vasily and Alexei Golitsyn... / Investigation cases about Fyodor Shaklovit and his accomplices. Publication of the Archaeographic Commission. T.4. St. Petersburg, 1893. Stlb.3-105.
12. Zabelin I. E. Decree. Op. P. 142.
13. Baklanova N. A. Decree. op. P.44.
14. Tydman L.V. Decree. Op. P.177.
15. Arkhangelsk regional newspaper “Pravda Severa”, No. 169, September 15, 2001
16. History of Russian art. T. 2. St. Petersburg, 1910, pp. 176-177.
17. Kiselev I. Mica windows. / “Decorative art of the USSR”. N 4. 1981. P. 18.
18. Kiselev I. Architectural details in Russian architecture of the 18th-19th centuries. Handbook of an architect-restorer. M., 2005.
The history of windows is interesting to consider through the prism of different eras, cultures and religions. If you believe scientific data, the first windows in history (approximately the same windows as we are used to seeing them today) appeared on the Mediterranean island of Crete in the second millennium BC. However, this architectural “novelty” did not receive further development and fell into oblivion along with the decline of the Cretan-Mycenaean civilization.
Further, windows became a common architectural element only a few centuries ago, which by the standards of history can be considered an insignificant period. The fact is that ancient houses had no windows. This is by no means due to limited knowledge of architecture or insufficient development of technology. The lack of windows can be explained solely from a practical point of view. The house was a person’s main refuge from heat and cold, from wind, rain and snow, and blank walls coped with these functions in the best possible way, because it was simply not possible to cover a window opening with glass in those ancient times. In addition, evil spirits could enter homes through window openings - this was believed for a long time. 
If we consider the buildings of ancient Greece, Rome and other Mediterranean states of antiquity, we can see the absence of window openings in the modern sense of the word. However, these buildings had another feature - almost everywhere there was a courtyard, which was a full-fledged source of light for the interior. In addition, there were cracks in the walls through which sunlight also penetrated into the rooms. However, if we consider the homes of the ancient Greeks, then such cracks in the walls were not present in all rooms. Basically, they were found only in halls for feasts and other similar rooms, and in rooms intended for women there were no such openings at all. In ancient Egypt, dwellings also had another source of lighting - these were special side openings under the roof, covered with bars. These bars are believed to have been designed to protect houses from birds, which in those days was considered a harbinger of troubles and misfortunes. It is worth noting that people still tried to create some kind of illusion of windows - in their homes there were decorative niches painted with paints that imitated the color of the sky and the sun. 
Old Russian and Slavic buildings still had some semblance of modern windows. Small holes were made in the walls through which sunlight could penetrate, albeit in negligible quantities. However, due to climatic conditions, there was a need to block such openings from the penetration of wind and cold. An alternative to modern glass was then mica windows (the most “prestigious” and expensive option), bull bladder, even thin plates of wood, burbot skin, paper, as well as fish press and canvas. In winter they could also use regular ice! Oddly enough, such “glass” reliably protected the house from the cold and perfectly let in sunlight. The above imitations of glass could be found in Russian villages about a hundred years ago, both in rural and urban areas. A popular method of protecting a house from the penetration of cold through window openings was also a special sliding board that did not tightly close the window - the so-called fiberglass windows. In order to compensate for even less sunlight, a special design and arrangement of windows in the house were used. As an example, we can cite the oblique windows, which were essentially three windows at once - a large central one and two small side windows located below the central one. Such windows were equipped with frames, jambs and lintel.
From the time of its appearance to the present day, the shapes and sizes of windows have undergone great changes. Studying medieval buildings, we can see small loophole windows and huge French windows that occupied almost the entire wall in the room. The general trend, however, was the constant expansion of window openings, which, to protect from the weather and prying eyes, were closed with wooden shutters. In addition to wooden shutters, metal gratings, carved limestone plates, marble or clay plates were also used - depending on the cultural, weather and craft characteristics of a particular region. 
For better illumination of interior spaces, from the 17th century, window openings began to be designed in the form of arches, expanding into the interior of the room. Then the windows already had metal frames, which formed a grid of cubes, circles and other geometric shapes on the window. Mica, which replaced modern glass, could be painted in various shades at that time. It is worth noting that mica practically did not provide any thermal insulation, so all windows were required to be equipped with wooden shutters. In some cases, the shutters were additionally upholstered with cloth or fur.
Window openings of large dimensions appeared in European countries during the Renaissance. Thanks to Emperor Peter I, large windows appeared in Russian houses. However, this architectural innovation was perceived with caution, especially by the clergy, which forced the emperor to issue appropriate decrees obliging new buildings to be equipped with large, bright windows (in particular, the decree of 1714, which obligated the use of designs by the architect Trezzini in the construction of houses). The first buildings corresponding to the new trends in St. Petersburg were the Winter and Summer Palaces and the A. Menshikov Palace. In those days, window openings had already begun to be covered with glass, window openings became large, with small glazing, and their very number in houses also increased.
It is worth noting that glass for windows began to be used in the first century AD. It became most widespread at that time in ancient Roman buildings, when the construction of multi-story buildings was mastered. Glass could be used entirely for small windows, or it could be inserted into special window frames made of wood or bronze. Despite this, glass was not widely used as such until the 18th century. Firstly, its production was extremely labor-intensive and expensive. Secondly, the quality of glass in those days left much to be desired: it was thick and cloudy, had a greenish tint and did not transmit sunlight well (it is worth noting that the more traditional mica of that time coped with this task even better). Glass became widespread relatively recently, when the technology of its production had ceased to be a secret and had undergone significant improvements.
Following the wide large windows, Peter I introduced another novelty into Russian architecture - window-doors, which were extremely popular at that time in Western Europe, in particular in France. However, due to the harsh Russian climate, this innovation did not take root and was not widely used. 
Classic buildings of the 18th century in Russia were divided into two halves - a rather modest residential area and an area where the luxury and high position of the owners of the house were demonstrated. The central main halls had several rows of large windows, usually located vertically. Living quarters were equipped with windows of much smaller overall dimensions, which could have completely different shapes. Also in the classic interiors of those times you can see another interesting detail - these are living room verandas, where glass was inserted directly between the columns, replacing full-fledged walls.
In addition to the above-mentioned windows and doors, roof windows, the so-called skylights, also began to be used. However, again due to Russian climatic conditions, most of the time such windows were closed with wooden shutters and caps, which we can see, for example, in the Ostankino Palace. In addition to wooden caps, felt was also used to better insulate roof windows. 
It was from the 18th century in Russia that the window as such began to be perceived not only as a source of light, but also as a way to view and admire the surroundings. Therefore, the windows were large, low-set (to view what was happening outside the window even in a sitting position), high and narrow, and ladders and platforms were built opposite the windows - original viewing platforms. Despite the high aesthetic appeal of such structures, they were not suitable for creating comfortable living conditions indoors. And already from the beginning of the 19th century, windows in buildings began to acquire a more practical configuration and overall dimensions. 
In the 20th century, the history of windows entered its new stage. With the development of technology, architects have a lot of solutions at their disposal to make a window both practical and aesthetic: all kinds of modifications of windows, various shapes and designs, the use of non-standard materials for the manufacture of frames. By the way, the invention in the mid-50s of the first PVC window profile, which today is already widespread literally everywhere, in a more advanced modification, can be considered a revolutionary stage in the history of modern windows.
Types of windows.
Berlin window. This three-leaf window is usually located in a room located at the intersection of the wings of the building, in the inner corner of the room.
Biforium. A window typical of Romanesque architecture. It is a window of two openings separated by a decorative column.
"Bulls-eye". A window located above the door. As a rule, it has an oval or round shape.
Fan window. The history of this type of window design originates in Romanesque culture. The upper part of this window is a kind of fan of separate interconnected sectors. 
K category: Glass materials
Brief history of glass in Russia
When considering the possibility of using glass in construction and methods of its manufacture, it is necessary to at least briefly become acquainted with the history of glass and its use in buildings of previous eras.
Glass is one of the materials used since ancient times: pure glass in the form of a cast amulet in the color of rich azure is found around 7000 BC.
Transparent glass appeared much later and was relatively rare. Glass was used primarily for making all kinds of decorations; The difficulty of manufacturing and processing transparent glass led to the fact that the cost of products made from such glass differed little from the cost of precious stones. Glass began to be used later for the manufacture of hollow vessels and small vases. The method of producing these valuable items was passed down from generation to generation.
The invention of the glass blowing tube is one of the great discoveries of mankind. This discovery transformed glass from a luxury item into a consumer item and allowed the creation of many different glass products.
The glass blowing tube was a hollow iron tube equipped with a head on one side. In the process of blowing this or that product, the worker immersed the head of the tube into the molten mass of glass, onto which a certain amount of molten glass with high viscosity stuck. By blowing air through a mouthpiece, a glass flask was formed, which gradually, by shaking and rotating, as well as using simple tools and heating the cooling mass of glass, turned into a hollow vessel of an almost strictly symmetrical shape. This method, which was used for many centuries, also produced elegant glass products.
Rice. 1. Painted glass in the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary
Until recently, the prevailing belief was that the origin of glass production in Rus' dates back to the 17th century. However, studies of the development of crafts in ancient Rus' carried out by the USSR Academy of Sciences showed that the glass products discovered in the burial mounds of the 10th-12th centuries were not imported (as was previously assumed), but were made locally1. This is confirmed by the results of excavations in Kyiv, which proved that there were glass-making workshops in Kievan Rus.
Glass bracelets and rings are common finds in ancient Russian cities. Thousands of fragments of bracelets and rings found during excavations are evidence of their mass production. There is reason to believe that these glass products appeared in the 10th century. The bracelets were made from glass strands, folded into a ring while hot and welded where the ends were fastened. During excavations of cities (especially southern ones) in layers dating back to the 11th-13th centuries, glass glasses of a standard shape were found, which also confirms the correctness of the assumption about their mass production. These glasses were made by blowing.
Until recently, glass beads, discovered in large quantities during excavations of burial mounds, were considered evidence of extensive foreign trade relations of ancient Rus', since the technique of making beads was allegedly not known here. However, this assumption is unfounded, since the technique of making glass beads is no more complicated than the technique of making rings and bracelets.
The production of glass products should be considered an urban craft, which became widespread in some cities of Rus'. The widespread development of glass production in ancient Rus' was based on the local rich reserves of raw materials necessary for the production of glass products of various types and colors. Compound materials in the form of fine river sand, potash (from plant ash), table salt and lime were available in unlimited quantities in Rus'.
Glass was colored using copper oxide (green), copper oxide with the addition of clay (bluish-green), sulfur and coal (yellow), iron oxide (smoky yellow) and manganese oxide (purple). These colors almost completely exhausted the color range of Russian glass products of the 10th-13th centuries.
Rice. 2. Portrait of Peter I
Rice. 3. Painting “Battle of Poltava”
Data on the use of glass in the 14th century. appear in the chronicle of the Mamai massacre, where it is said that when Dmitry Donskoy went on a campaign against Mamai, his wife Evdokia cried “under the glass window.” This is also evidenced by the order of Ivan IV (XVI century), who ordered to buy in Novgorod “windowed glass of different colors, as much as possible, and they would send the glass to us in Moscow.”
Beautifully executed mosaics in architectural monuments of the 11th century. (in Kyiv) are proof of the use of colored opaque glass (in the form of smalt) as a decorative means.
The first glass factory in Russia was built in 1635 in the wasteland of Dukhanino, Dmitrovsky district, near Moscow. Later, in 1669, another plant was built with treasury funds in the village of Izmailovo. Glass production received especially great development in the era of Peter I (early 18th century), who created an exemplary factory-school on the Sparrow Hills in Moscow. Of greater artistic interest are the glass in the windows of Russian churches of the 16th and 17th centuries, painted with fireproof, indelible transparent paints. In Fig. Figure 1 shows a fragment of a window (XVII century) with painted glass in the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary in the village of Pokrovskoye in Fili. The dimensions of the glass in the windows are 13.5X9 cm; they are inserted into a metal frame with small holes for the glass.
Rice. 5. Fragment of the painting “Battle of Poltava”
A huge role in the development of glass production in Russia belongs to the great Russian scientist M.V. Lomonosov. Long-term theoretical and experimental work of M. V. Lomonosov at a specially built experimental Ust-Rudnitsky plant, which produced mosaic smalt, beads, glass beads, as well as various products made of colored glass, along with the hot propaganda of M. V. Lomonosov about the great importance of glass in development economy and culture of the country, contributed to raising domestic glass production to a high level. M.V. Lomonosov, with his characteristic genius, set himself a task of enormous scientific significance: “to find compositions for glasses and give the corresponding theory of colors, because it is still very insufficient in physics, and also for the purpose of exercise in the mentioned chemical works and for the Academy of Arts, so that among other pictorial arts it would include mosaic art, for which Rome alone was famous.”
Rice. 6. Crystal vase in honor of the capture of Kazan
It should be noted that M.V. Lomonosov coped with these tasks perfectly. The factory, having received an order for mosaic paintings and portraits in 1760, under the leadership and with the direct participation of M.V. Lomonosov, created a number of mosaic portraits. The portrait of Peter I (1854), measuring 89X69 cm, now kept in the Russian culture department of the State Hermitage (Fig. 2), deserves special attention. A few years later, M.V. Lomonosov completed the famous mosaic on the theme of the Battle of Poltava, on which he worked for just over two years. The size of this mosaic is 4.81 X 6.44 m (Fig. 3 and 4).
Rice. 7. Vase and glass made of colored opaque glass
Having completed Lomonosov's course in glass science, his students became major masters. For example, Pyotr Druzhinin in 1753 organized the production of colored crystals, which quickly gained worldwide fame, and Matvey Vasiliev and Efim Melnikov became famous for their work in the mosaic business.
The name of M.V. Lomonosov is also associated with the method of hot pressing of glass developed for the first time in Russia. Among Lomonosov’s “mosaic samples” that have come down to us, we were able to discover tetrahedral bars made on the machine of the great Russian scientist. The study of these bars showed that M.V. Lomonosov, for the first time in the history of glassmaking, used the method of hot pressing of glass, the priority of which was still attributed to Western scientists
A very interesting and patriotic assessment of the state of glass production in Russia at the beginning of the 18th century. is given by the Russian economist Ivan Tikhonov-Pososhkov (d. in 1726), who wrote: “And as we have things in Rus', such as glassware, mirrors, glasses, window glass, then we need to manage all of them as our own, but with foreigners “Don’t buy any of those things at half price.”
There is every indication that it was during this period that Russia exported some types of glass products abroad. In 1744, the Russian government decided to organize porcelain production, which was kept strictly secret by foreign specialists. This difficult task was entrusted to M. V. Lomonosov’s fellow student at the Theological Academy D. I. Vinogradov. D. I. Vinogradov’s long-term experiments in testing various clays, as well as the help of M. V. Lomonosov, brought long-awaited results: D. I. Vinogradov gave his country one of the best porcelains in the world.
In the second half of the 18th century. large Bakhmetyev factories were built (now the Red Giant plant in the Penza region) and Maltsev factories (now Gus-Khrustalny in the Vladimir region). These factories achieved high skill and became famous for producing crystal products of exceptional beauty, as well as “golden ruby” - glass with an admixture of gold for coloring. Some samples of glass products manufactured by the Bakhmetyev factories are shown in Fig. 5, a and b.
Wide development of glass production in Russia in the 18th century. made it possible to significantly expand the scope of application of glass and glass products. Glass in the form of beautiful quality mirrors, pilasters, chandeliers, floor lamps, sconces, girandoles, etc. has found various and successful applications in the palaces of St. Petersburg and its environs. At the same time, furniture appeared, first made with individual elements made of glass, and later entirely of glass (stools and a table in the palace of Pushkin).
The works of M. V. Lomonosov and his student Matvey Vasiliev in the field of mosaics were studied by the Academy of Arts. At the same time, the durability of colored glass mosaics was revealed with undeniable convincing, which was of great importance when arranging the interior decoration of St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg. The large scale of the work (the area of the entire mosaic used for St. Isaac's Cathedral is about 593 m2) required the organization of a special mosaic workshop at the Academy of Arts. Russian mosaic artists Alekseev, Barukhin, Khmelevsky, Lebedev and others created highly artistic works that have gained well-deserved fame.
Rice. 8. Solid glass stained glass
The rapid development of capitalism in Russia in the second half of the 19th century. led to the fact that already in 1879 there were 173 glass factories in the country. On the verge of the 19th and 20th centuries. With the advent of improved and high-performance automatic glass-forming machines that produce cheap sheet glass, glass production is entering the path of industrial development. This made it possible to widely use stained glass windows in the architecture of that time, the designs of which reflected features typical of the decadent Art Nouveau style that dominated architecture at that time (Fig. 7). The use of glass floors dates back to the same time, samples of which are shown in Fig. 8.
Improvement of factory equipment made it possible to produce new types of glass products: glass with high mechanical strength, unbreakable glass, signal lenses for automatic blocking, bulbs for radio tubes, heat-resistant dishes, etc.
However, the task of mass production of new types of glass products could not be completely solved without the widespread introduction of mechanization of the technological process into the glass industry. This turned out to be possible only after the Great October Socialist Revolution. The creation of new mechanized factories with the latest technology (Dagestansky, Konstantinovsky, Dzerzhinsky, etc.), as well as the reconstruction of most of the large existing enterprises, ensured significant growth in glass production and expanded the range of products in accordance with the requirements of industrialization of construction. Stalin's five-year plans re-equipped the glass industry and turned it from a backward to an advanced branch of the national economy. Suffice it to say that the USSR occupies one of the first places in the world in terms of the quantity of glass products produced, and surpasses the United States in the production of window glass.
Rice. 9. Vertical method of pulling glass tape on the left - installation diagram; on the right is a general view of the installation in progress
Rice. 10. Manufacturing of rolled glass using a continuous machine
Soviet scientists, production innovators, and Stakhanovites contributed a lot of new and original things to glass production, thereby contributing to the successful development of this important sector of the national economy. Improvement in the design of a glass blowing device, which in many cases makes it possible to mechanize the process of blowing glass products, the invention of a machine for producing glass tubes (darts), the production of glass fibers and fabrics, the invention of foam glass - all this characterizes the great achievements of research work widely carried out in the USSR in the field of production glass
The almost universal availability of raw materials (sand, limestone, dolomite and natural sodium sulfates), local fuels (peat, firewood), as well as the relatively insignificant energy requirements of glass production create all the conditions for the further development of this industry and, in particular, for the expansion range of architectural and construction glass.
The types of glass currently used in construction are produced by vertically pulling (through a forming slot - a “boat” in a fireclay float) a continuous glass ribbon from a pool filled with molten glass (Fig. 9). In 1948, Soviet scientists developed a new method for drawing a ribbon of glass from the free surface of molten glass. In this way, ordinary window glass is produced, which is widely used in modern construction of industrial, residential and public buildings.
In addition, glass is produced by casting and rolling (Fig. 10) on casting tables or on a roller conveyor. The glass obtained in this way, depending on the nature of the surface treatment, is divided into a number of grades, the classification of which is given below.
- Brief outline of the history of glass in Russia
In the morning, before leaving the house, we are used to assessing the weather by looking out the window. As children, the parents of those who lived in high-rise buildings called them home through him. It’s such a familiar element that we don’t even pay attention anymore - frames, windows, glass. Nothing special. Have you ever wondered when the window appeared? Indeed, in the first human houses, which were caves, yurts, huts, tents, there was not even a hint of windows. The maximum is a hole in the roof to allow smoke from the fire to escape.
It is impossible to say exactly when the first openings in the walls appeared, which became the prototypes of modern windows. In areas where a warm climate reigned, they were covered with thin fabric. In Ancient Rome, rectangular windows with decorations inside were installed. To the north, the openings were covered with fish or bull bladder, making the so-called drag windows. They bore this name due to the sliding shutter with which they were closed - a drag that moved along the grooves. In Rus', such windows were cut down in adjacent logs, up to the middle of each - this made it possible to maintain the strength of the structure. However, almost until the 15th century, most peasants did not even have fiberglass windows in their houses to keep warm during the harsh winter.
The shape of windows was not rectangular everywhere: with the development of glassmaking in Europe and Rus', round windows began to be made. It is not for nothing that their names in some languages have a direct reference to their form and purpose: there is an “eye” everywhere, from which an oval or round “window” was formed. European craftsmen blew a glass ball and flattened it on a copper board, thereby creating a plate. We did it simpler - we simply poured molten glass onto a large metal sheet. After hardening, a rather thick round window with a diameter of about 30 cm was obtained. Mica windows were also made: polished pieces of mica let in more light than thick and cloudy glass. But both glass and mica windows fulfilled their direct purpose: they protected from bad weather, let in light and served as the “eyes” of the home. The name itself appears in writing in documents dating back to around 1090.
The glass discs that craftsmen sculpted in those days have left their mark on history: their descendants can now be seen as round portholes. On land, round windows took root only as a decorative element; they were replaced by more practical rectangles. But on a ship, the round window disrupted the strength of the sides of the ship less, and therefore did not change either its shape or size.
In most houses, windows were located on the facade. The three portico windows have changed slightly over time: from about the 14th century, the central window increased in size. Instead of a small wooden log house, it began to be decorated with a large, red one. But since its size did not have the best effect on the frame, strong jambs were attached to the ends of the cut-out opening. Thanks to this, the window with them began to be called slanted. It was richly decorated with carvings, and usually there was only one in the house - two or more were rare even in the 18th century. Glass for windows was very expensive, so in the villages they made do with bubbles and mica, pieces of which were sewn together using horsehair (“shituhi”), or fastened with metal plates. The largest piece was placed in the center of the frame, and the canvas was, as it were, “extended” around it. Since the 17th century, mica windows have been slightly diversified: the paints with which mica was painted were used. Through such a window, more than just light entered the house: a ray of sunlight painted the whole house, and therefore the window became beautiful, red.
In richer houses, owners installed a certain type of window for each floor. For example, a room could boast two red windows at once, and if a third one was opened in it, it would turn into a small room. A room with a lot of light became a real women's abode, because it was most convenient to do needlework there. Of course, such a room was arranged only in the female half of the house. If there was a third floor, then all its walls were equipped with red windows. As a result, large windows replaced the portico ones, and the latter found their refuge in bathhouses and attics.
A cold winter could easily freeze the room due to the large number and size of the windows, so they were closed with inserts: cloth-covered panels were inserted into the frame from the outside and protected the house from wind and cold. They began to hang them on hinges only later. In the room itself, the inhabitants of the house also sought to “insulate themselves”: shields covered with felt were inserted into the windows from the inside. For beauty, comfort and additional protection, curtains were made of light fabric to cover the window from the side of the room.
But that’s in Russia. Previously, our winters gave a 40-point head start to European ones, and even now the Siberian frosts are nightmares for foreigners accustomed to the warmth. In medieval castles, narrow windows were made, which were later replaced by high arched openings sparkling with multi-colored stained glass. By the 15th century, the Venetian window, consisting of two parts, connected at the top by a common arch and divided in the center by a vertical column, gained popularity.
The next revolution in window fashion was the Baroque style, thanks to which the rectangular openings that had already come into use changed their shape to circles and ellipses. The thinner and more transparent the glass, the more it was valued: stained glass was left only as a decorative element in some buildings. Then the windows began to open, double frames appeared, and the decor improved and absorbed more and more new elements.
In Russia, too, they did not lag behind the Europeans, and in the 18th century, every tenth landowner’s estate sported richly decorated window frames. However, glass was very expensive, and therefore everyone who lived at the average income level and below was content with red or even glass windows.
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