Holy Cross Visual Arts Professor Comments on Role of Stained Glass in Sacred and Secular Spaces

Virginia Raguin, Distinguished Professor of Humanities and professor of visual arts in the visual arts department at the College of the Holy Cross, offers her expert commentary in an Associated Press article discussing the value of stained glass in both sacred and secular spaces.

“Stained glass brings light, color and story into a building all at the same time,” Raguin shares in the article, adding that no other medium does that.

In addition to discussing the use of stained glass in secular spaces, the article explains that stained glass has long been associated with religious buildings because faith communities were able to commission such pieces when the medium was first becoming popular.

“Religious buildings were frequented by the whole community, which meant that everyone benefited from efforts to beautify them,” Raguin offers in the article. She continues to explain that stained glass windows further helped faith communities express their identity since “stained glass has to be made for a specific place, unlike regular art, like paintings.”

Read the full article by the Associated Press, which ran in nine other media outlets around the country, on Washingtontimes.com.

This “Holy Cross in the News” item by Kelsey Littlefield ‘17