The recording and study of mediaeval stained glass

The Academy project Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi. Stained Glass Studies (CVMA) in Potsdam is responsible, jointly with the Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi (CVMA) Freiburg , for the national survey of mediaeval stained glass in the Federal Republic of Germany. To achieve this, the stained glass is first documented in extensive photography campaigns.

On the basis of these photographs, diagrams of the windows’ state of conservation are drawn up, indicating later additions or restorations with a system of hatching so that the mediaeval components of each pane are evident. At the same time, the style and iconography of the individual scenes or figures are studied and the origin and function of each window within the church are reconstructed. The results are published according to the guidelines of the International CVMA.

The International CVMA  is composed of twelve European and, with Canada and the USA, two non-European countries in whose cultural heritage mediaeval stained glass is of importance. The International CVMA is under the patronage of the Comité International d'Histoire de I'Art (CIHA) and the Union Académique Internationale (UAI).

The Academy research project “Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi. Stained Glass Studies” is part of the Academies' Programme , a research funding programme co-financed by the German federal government and individual federal states. Coordinated by the Union of the German Academies of Sciences and Humanities , the Programme intends to retrieve and explore our cultural heritage, to make it accessible and highlight its relevance to the present, as well as to preserve it for the future.