This study explores how modern abstract stained-glass interventions can profoundly transform the atmosphere and meaning of medieval sacred monuments, imbuing them with new layers of spiritual, aesthetic, and collective identity. Focusing on non-figurative works by the renowned artists Pierre Soulages (Saint Faith’s Church in Conques, France), Gerhard Richter (Cologne Cathedral in Germany), and Stanislav Libenský and Jaroslava Brychtová (Saint Vitus’s Cathedral in Prague, Czech Republic), the research investigates how such interventions reinterpret tradition through contemporary visual language. It considers the performative and symbolic potency of these artworks, examining the intent of both their artists and commissioners, and how these projects reflect broader ideological contexts of a politically divided world and its aftermath. Ultimately, the study probes the unique resonance between medieval and modern artistic expression, revealing how abstract stained glass can serve as a spiritually and socially legitimizing force within historically layered sacred spaces.
Marcela Rusinko (Tue,) studied this question.