When stepping into a holy place, our eyes seek the light. If we're lucky, the light will be shining through a stained glass window, adding illumination and beauty at once. Stained glass windows tell stories, educate and inspire.
Doctor Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, the mind behind the theory of the five stages of grief, once wrote:
People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.
Take in their beauty here:
La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain
'Glory Window,' Chapel of Thanksgiving, Dallas, Texas
Kings Chapel, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Nasir Al-Mulk Mosque, Shiraz, Iran
Church of Notre-Dame au Sablon, Brussels, Belgium
Grace Cathedral, San Francisco
La Sainte-Chapelle, Paris, France
Gloucester Cathedral, Gloucester, United Kingdom
Temple Emanu-El, New York City, New York
St Peter and St Paul's Church, Lavenham, Suffolk, United Kingdom
St. Salvator Cathedral, Bruges, Belgium
Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, France
Cathedral of Maringá, Maringá, Brazil
Aix Cathedral, Aix-en-Provence, France
Salisbury Cathedral, Salisbury, United Kingdom
Lloyd Street Synagogue
Reims Cathedral, Reims, France
Coventry Cathedral, Coventry, United Kingdom
St. Martin's Cathedral, Ypres, Belgium
St Nicolaaskerk Church, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Blue Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey
Siena Cathedral, Siena, Italy
Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Sebastian, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
St. Clements Church, Hastings, Sussex, United Kingdom