History of Stained Glass and Coloured Glass in Indian Buildings

Walk into an old church in Kolkata, the booking hall of a Victorian railway station in Mumbai, the durbar hall of a princely palace or the front room of a century-old haveli, and the light changes colour. Red, amber, blue and green patches move slowly across a floor as the sun moves. This is the work of coloured glass — sometimes true stained glass, built from hundreds of pieces held in lead, sometimes simple coloured panes set in a timber fanlight above a door. For more than a century and a half it was one of the ways Indian buildings showed status, faith and modernity, and it is now coming back into homes as a single art-glass panel in a main door, a pooja room or a staircase window.

It is also widely misunderstood. Many people use "stained glass" for any coloured glass, from a cheap printed film to a museum-quality leaded window, and buy accordingly. Others reject it entirely as old-fashioned or as something that belongs only in churches. Both views miss the point. Coloured glass has a long, mixed history in India — part imported, part home-grown — and the reasons it was used are as practical as they are decorative: it softens harsh light, gives privacy without a curtain, lets light into deep rooms through high openings, and turns a plain wall of glass into the focus of a room.

This article traces where stained glass came from, how it arrived in and mixed with Indian building traditions, how the historic panels were made, and what that history means for anyone specifying coloured or art glass today: the sizes, the methods, the safety rules and the indicative costs.

What stained glass is — and what it is not

Strictly, stained glass is glass coloured in the making and then assembled into a picture or pattern, usually with strips of lead, with some details painted on and fused in a kiln. The colour of the main pieces comes from metal oxides added to the molten glass — cobalt for blue, copper for green or red, manganese for purple, iron for green and amber — so the colour runs right through the sheet. This is called pot-metal glass. A second kind, flashed glass, has a thin layer of strong colour fused onto a clear or pale base; craftsmen could grind or etch through the thin layer to make a two-colour detail within a single piece. Fine lines — faces, hands, lettering, the folds of a robe — were drawn with a dark vitreous paint, often called grisaille, and fired so that it fused permanently into the surface.

The word "stained" comes from a later discovery. From the early fourteenth century, European glaziers learned that a compound of silver painted onto glass and fired would turn it a clear yellow to amber. This silver stain let a single piece of glass carry both clear and yellow areas, which is how so many late medieval windows show golden hair, crowns and borders without extra lead lines. Over time, the whole craft took the name.

The table matters when buying. A panel of real pot-metal glass in lead or copper foil is a handmade object; it will glow differently through the day and last generations if it is protected. A sheet of back-painted or printed glass can be beautiful and practical, but it is a different product with a different price, and it should be described honestly.

A short history: from cathedral windows to colonial India

Coloured glass is ancient — glassmakers in Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Roman world made coloured vessels and small window panes — but the large pictorial window is a medieval European invention. By the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Gothic cathedrals of France and England were built with ever-larger window openings, and stained glass filled them. Chartres Cathedral is the best-known survivor of that era, with a famous deep blue in its windows; the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, consecrated in 1248, is almost a cage of glass held by slender stone piers. The windows told religious stories to people who could not read, and they turned daylight into a symbol of the divine.

After the Reformation and the Renaissance, large figurative windows fell out of fashion in much of Europe, and many were lost. The craft returned with force in the nineteenth century, when the Gothic Revival made pointed arches, tracery and coloured windows the proper dress for churches, colleges and public buildings. Workshops in Britain produced windows on an industrial scale, and designers of the Arts and Crafts movement — notably the firm of Morris & Co., with designs by Edward Burne-Jones — raised the artistic level again. In the United States, Louis Comfort Tiffany and his studios developed opalescent glass and popularised the copper-foil method, which allowed smaller pieces and curved, three-dimensional work such as lamp shades. Art Nouveau around 1900 favoured flowing plant forms in glass; Art Deco in the 1920s and 1930s favoured geometry, sunbursts and etched or sandblasted glass.

Twentieth-century modernism did not abandon coloured glass so much as change it. Le Corbusier's chapel of Notre-Dame-du-Haut at Ronchamp, completed in 1955, sets small panes of coloured and painted glass deep in a thick, splayed wall, so that the light arrives as scattered points of colour rather than a picture. Artists experimented with thick slab glass set in concrete or resin. That idea — coloured light as atmosphere rather than story — is the one most modern Indian homes borrow.

India's own glass traditions

India did not need Europe to discover coloured glass. Glass beads and bangles have been made on the subcontinent for well over two thousand years; the ancient port of Arikamedu near Puducherry is known to archaeologists as a bead-making centre whose small drawn glass beads travelled across the Indian Ocean. Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh remains India's best-known centre of glass bangles and decorative glassware. This was a culture of glass as ornament worn on the body, rather than glass as large flat panes, because making big, flat, clear sheets is a far more demanding industrial process.

In buildings, the older Indian tradition used glass in small pieces set into plaster. The mirror halls — Sheesh Mahals — of Rajput and Mughal palaces, such as the one at Amber Fort near Jaipur, are covered with thousands of small convex mirror pieces, so that a single lamp is multiplied into a sky of reflections. In the City Palace at Udaipur, the peacocks of the Mor Chowk courtyard are built up as a mosaic of coloured glass pieces. Palaces, havelis and temples in Rajasthan and Gujarat used small coloured panes in windows, doors and lanterns, and coloured glass handis and lamps hung in reception rooms. This is mosaic and inlay thinking: glass as a jewel in a wall, not a picture in a window.

Goa offers a different lesson. Many of its Portuguese-era houses glazed their windows not with glass but with thin, translucent squares of windowpane oyster shell set in wooden lattices. The shell let in soft, diffused, slightly pearly light and kept out glare — the same job a frosted or opalescent glass does today, done with a local, renewable material.

How stained glass arrived

True leaded stained glass came to India largely through the churches and public buildings of the colonial period. Anglican and Catholic churches built from the early nineteenth century onwards — St Paul's Cathedral in Kolkata, consecrated in 1847, is a well-known example — were glazed with coloured and figurative windows, many made in British workshops and shipped out in panels. The Gothic Revival public buildings that followed carried the idea into civic life: the Victoria Terminus in Mumbai, now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, completed in 1888 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2004, combines pointed arches, vaulting, carved stone and stained glass.

The princely states took the material and made it their own. Laxmi Vilas Palace in Vadodara, completed in 1890 for Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III, is described as having stained-glass windows among its rich interiors, and the rebuilt Mysore Palace, completed in 1912, has a celebrated octagonal marriage pavilion, the Kalyana Mantapa, roofed by a stained-glass ceiling. In these buildings stained glass sat beside Indian carving, inlay, painting and mirror-work — exactly the mixing of sources that defines Indo-Saracenic architecture. Merchant mansions followed: the Chettinad houses of Tamil Nadu, the old houses of Kolkata, and many havelis and bungalows in Gujarat and Maharashtra used imported coloured glass in fanlights, doors and clerestory windows as a sign of wealth and connection to the wider world.

How a leaded panel is made

The method in a heritage window and in a well-made modern art-glass panel is essentially the same. The designer draws the full-size pattern, called a cartoon, and marks every line where two pieces of glass will meet. Each piece is cut from coloured sheet with a glass cutter, ground to fit, and — if it carries painted detail — painted and fired in a kiln. The pieces are then assembled on the bench with H-section strips of lead called came, which wrap the edges of the glass. Where cames meet, the joints are soldered on both faces. Finally, the panel is cemented: a putty-like cement is brushed into the gap between the glass and the lead flanges, which stiffens the panel and keeps water out. The panel is cleaned, the lead darkened, and the whole is fixed into a frame.

Three dimensions decide whether a leaded panel survives. The first is glass thickness: art glass is usually about 3–4 mm, which is why it must never be the only barrier in a door. The second is the came: cames are made in many profiles, with faces commonly about 4–10 mm wide; wider cames are stronger and read as bold lines, narrower ones look delicate but sag sooner. The third is reinforcement. Lead is soft and heavy, so a large panel slowly bows under its own weight and under wind pressure. Traditional glaziers tied the panel to horizontal iron saddle bars, roughly every 450–600 mm of height, and modern studios use the same idea with steel bars soldered into the lead lines or with stiffened, reinforced came.

Why coloured glass worked in Indian buildings

In the Indian climate, a window is as much a problem as an opportunity. Direct sun brings heat and glare; a large clear opening brings dust and removes privacy. Historic builders answered with deep verandahs, jaalis, louvred shutters and — where wealth allowed — coloured glass placed high. A fanlight above a door or a clerestory window above a verandah roof admitted light deep into a room without exposing the people in it, and coloured glass toned the light down so that it felt softer and cooler than clear glass would. Because these openings sat above head height, nobody needed to see through them, so the glass could be as richly coloured as the owner liked.

Fanlights did a second job. Many were hinged or set above louvred doors so that warm air could escape at the top of the room while the door below stayed closed. In old bungalows and havelis across Gujarat, Maharashtra and Bengal, the semicircular fanlight with radiating coloured panes — red, blue, green and amber around a clear centre — became one of the most familiar details in Indian domestic architecture.

The same reasoning holds today. Coloured glass is most comfortable where it is seen as light rather than looked through: in a fanlight, a clerestory, a staircase window, a skylight, the top half of a partition, or a pooja-room door where the colour is a backdrop. Placed at eye level in a window with a view, it hides the garden; placed facing west without shading, it can still let heat in, because coloured glass reduces glare much more than it reduces heat.

Coloured glass in Indian homes today: six methods

A homeowner who wants coloured glass in 2026 has far more choices than a nineteenth-century client, and they behave very differently. The table compares the six methods Aaditya Interior's designers meet most often in Indian projects. The leaded and copper-foil methods are true art glass; the others are modern industrial products that give colour in other ways. Prices are indicative October 2026 ranges and depend heavily on the design, the glass chosen and the city.

Two of these deserve special mention for Indian homes. Coloured laminated glass is the safest way to get large areas of colour, because the coloured interlayer that bonds the two sheets also holds the pieces together if the glass breaks — the same principle that makes laminated glass the right choice for railings and overhead glazing. And a real leaded panel, set as a modest insert in a main door or a fanlight, gives more character per rupee than any other form of coloured glass, provided it is protected.

Safety: art glass is never the barrier

Historic art glass was made from thin annealed glass that breaks into sharp shards, and modern art glass is no different. Wherever a person could fall against, push or kick the glass — doors, side panels beside doors, panels low to the floor, glass along stairs and landings, shower and bathroom areas, and anything within reach of children — the art panel must be backed or enclosed by safety glass: toughened glass, which breaks into small blunt granules, or laminated glass, which cracks but stays in the frame. Indian practice, guided by the glazing provisions of the National Building Code of India 2016 and the Bureau of Indian Standards' code of practice for the use of glass in buildings, treats these as critical locations. A specialist glazier should confirm the thickness and type for each opening.

Method A — sealing the leaded panel between two sheets of toughened glass in a sealed or framed unit — is the usual choice for main doors, because it protects the art glass on both faces, gives a flat surface that is easy to clean, and keeps dust out of the lead lines. Method B — fixing a sheet of toughened or laminated glass a short distance outside the art panel — is the conservation approach for historic windows: it keeps rain and impact off the old glass while letting the gap breathe. Method C uses coloured laminated glass, which is safety glass in itself and needs no extra layer, but gives flat colour rather than handmade texture.

Care, restoration and the next chapter

Historic coloured glass in India suffers from the same few problems everywhere: lead that has fatigued and bowed, cement that has crumbled so the glass rattles, cracked pieces, broken fanlight frames, and dirt from decades of city air. Restoration is specialist work. A good conservator photographs and records the panel, removes it, cleans the glass with gentle methods, re-leads where the came has failed, replaces broken pieces with matched glass, and reinstalls it — often with protective glazing outside. Painting over coloured glass, sealing it with silicone, or replacing it with printed film destroys what made it valuable. For an old family home with original fanlights, careful repair is almost always worth more than replacement.

For new work, everyday care is simple. Dust protected panels with a soft cloth; clean the protective glass with ordinary glass cleaner; never use abrasive pads or acids on painted or leaded glass; and check the frame and fixings every few years. Exposed leaded panels outdoors should be inspected after each monsoon for loose cement and bowing.

The future of coloured glass is already visible. Digital ceramic printing can now fire full-colour images permanently onto toughened glass; coloured interlayers let architects build entire facades and skylights in tinted laminated glass; and research into coloured and semi-transparent solar glass hints at windows that colour light and generate power at the same time. Studios in India produce fused and kiln-formed glass for hotels and homes, and the hand-leaded window is being revived by small craft workshops. What will not change is the lesson of the old fanlight: coloured glass is at its best when it shapes light, high and protected, rather than when it blocks a view.

Eight rules for specifying coloured glass

• Decide whether the glass will be looked through or looked at; strong colour belongs where nobody needs a view.
• Place art glass high — fanlights, clerestories, stair windows, the top of partitions — wherever possible.
• In doors, side panels, low windows, stairs and bathrooms, enclose or back the art glass with toughened or laminated safety glass.
• Keep single leaded panels to modest sizes and ask for reinforcing bars roughly every 450–600 mm of height.
• Ask the maker what the glass is: pot-metal, flashed, painted, fused, laminated, printed or film — and pay accordingly.
• Check the weight with the door or window maker before ordering; upgrade hinges and frames for sealed leaded units.
• Remember that coloured glass cuts glare more than heat; shade west-facing coloured glass like any other glass.
• Repair historic panels with a specialist; never paint over, silicone over or replace them with film.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between stained glass and coloured glass?

Coloured glass is any glass with colour, including tinted, laminated and printed glass. Stained glass, in the strict sense, is coloured glass cut into pieces and assembled — usually in lead came or copper foil — often with painted and fired details. All stained glass is coloured glass, but most coloured glass sold today is not stained glass.

How much does a stained-glass panel cost in India?

Indicatively in October 2026, a leaded or copper-foil art-glass panel costs about ₹1,200–3,500 per sq ft, depending on the glass, the number of pieces, painted detail and the studio. Protective toughened glass, framing and fixing are additional. Back-painted toughened glass, which is opaque, costs about ₹500–1,000 per sq ft.

Can stained glass be used in a main door?

Yes, and it is one of the best places for it, but the art panel should be sealed between, or backed by, toughened or laminated safety glass, and the door's hinges and frame must be checked for the extra weight. A modest insert — a vertical strip or a panel in the upper half — is safer and more economical than a fully glazed door.

Does coloured glass keep a room cool?

Only partly. Coloured glass reduces glare noticeably, but much of the sun's heat still passes through. For hot, west-facing windows, combine coloured glass with shading — a projection, a jaali or a louvre — or with performance glass, and keep strong colour for openings that do not face the afternoon sun.

Which Indian buildings are famous for stained or coloured glass?

Well-known examples include colonial churches such as St Paul's Cathedral in Kolkata, the Victoria Terminus (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus) in Mumbai, Laxmi Vilas Palace in Vadodara, the Kalyana Mantapa of Mysore Palace with its stained-glass ceiling, the glass mosaics of the City Palace in Udaipur, and the mirror-work Sheesh Mahal at Amber Fort, along with many fanlights in old havelis, mansions and bungalows.