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FaVU-1SHSSAcad. year: 2026/2027
The course is designed as a historical and theoretical overview of the development of glass and glassmaking technologies over a long historical period. Through lectures, the material and cultural history of glass will be presented, from the earliest attempts at its production in ancient civilizations to advanced technologies and complex ways of working with glass in the early modern and modern periods. Individual production methods and technologies will always be situated within specific geographical and cultural contexts, with an emphasis on their place of origin, the conditions of their development, and their subsequent spread through commercial, political, and cultural networks.
Attention will also be paid to glass as a commodity subject to economic, social, and power relations: its role in bourgeois and everyday life, in architecture, especially in connection with the emergence and development of glass windows, as well as in science, religion, and representation. The course will also include a basic overview of the history of glass artistic artefacts, not in isolation, but in relation to the technological possibilities and social needs of a given period.
Thematically, glass is understood as a material that is not neutral, but whose acceptance, rejection, or specific use in different cultures reveals values, aesthetics, and ways of understanding the world. The course thus connects technological history with social, cultural, and ideological aspects, creating a framework for a deeper understanding of glass as one of the key materials that shaped Western civilization.
Language of instruction
Number of ECTS credits
Mode of study
Guarantor
Department
Entry knowledge
Secondary school level of knowledge of history and art history.
Rules for evaluation and completion of the course
Credit will be awarded for active participation in lectures (up to 3 unexcused absences are permitted) and for writing a paper on a topic covered in the lectures.
Aims
The aim of the course is to provide students with a general and critical overview of glassmaking in human history, with a special emphasis on glass as a material phenomenon and an active agent in cultural, technological, and social development. The course examines glass not only as a craft or artistic material, but also as an actor that has contributed to the formation of civilizations, especially Western society, in everyday life, architecture, science, commerce, religion, and ways of thinking.
Students will:
Study aids
Prerequisites and corequisites
Basic literature
Recommended reading
Classification of course in study plans
Lecture
Teacher / Lecturer
Syllabus
1. Introductory lesson: Glass as a material phenomenon
2.–3. Significance and production of ancient glass
4. Technological advances in glassmaking thanks to glass blowing its beginnings
5. The first glass windows and their development
6.–7. Medieval glassmaking and the formation of Western civilization
8.–9. Glass in the Renaissance
10. Europe's path to industrialization
11. Artistic glassmaking
12. Contemporary glass technologies and their applications
13. Natural glass and its origins
Epilogue: glass returns to nature
Individual preparation - study of study materials
Individual preparation - creating a presentation