Stained glass emerged in Europe in the 12th century, along with the first cathedrals. It is believed that they came to Cuba from the Mediterranean, as the technique known as embellotado - the same technique used on the island - comes from southern Italy and Spain, where fragments of coloured glass are inserted into a grooved wooden frame. Stained glass became one of the most beautiful solutions available to sift light and recreate interior atmospheres where the magic of colours prevails.

Birth of stained glass in Cuba

The prosperity of the colony brought with it the birth of a powerful social class that soon raised its dwellings. It was here that stained glass was introduced as a solution to the luminosity of the Caribbean and its climate. This primitive utilitarian character, together with the absence of expert glassmakers, meant that colonial stained glass windows had very simple designs with a predominance of geometric shapes. The coloured glass was imported from Bohemia and once on the island, the glassmaker would grind and cut it, while the carpenter would embed the fragments in the wood, according to the previously conceived design.

The stained glass of half a point and the luceta, decorated sumptuously latticed windows, louvered doors that look towards the street, as well as galleries and interior courtyards where the play of light engenders whimsical silhouettes. The stained glass window also found a foothold in other building typologies, and in addition to its decorative concept, it can transmit diverse messages, whether religious, political or economic, similar to a painting or sculpture. For this reason, its use was recurrent in churches, tombs and public buildings.

Republican stained glass

When the upper social classes moved their centre from Old Havana to other areas of the city, larger buildings appeared. Due to the accelerated pace of construction, stained glass became more complex and its form was enriched with the same rapidity: carpanels, pointed, Arabic, horseshoe-shaped, rectangular lucetas and oculi of all sizes adorned the new halls of the wealthy and proud Creoles. Palaces and villas, hotels, banks, state buildings and commercial offices were filled with stained-glass windows which, unlike the colonial ones, were made using the Northern European leaded glass technique and abandoned the geometrism of the previous century to introduce European motifs with landscape, heraldic, historical and religious themes.

During the 20th century, stained glass adorned the foyers of emblematic buildings such as the Bank of Havana and the National Library. In luxury residences and prestigious institutions, stained-glass windows were often found next to staircases and in rooms near the garden. Some important examples are the stained-glass windows in the residence of Narciso Gelats -headquarters of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba-, the Casa de la Amistad (House of Friendship) and the Servando Cabrera Museum. Equally noteworthy are those of the noble arms of Juan de Pedro Baró, husband of Catalina Lasa, and those that decorate the tomb of this lady, in both cases by the Frenchman René Lalique, one of the most famous European glassmakers of all time, of whom Baró was a patron.

Reinterpretation and topicality

From the 1940s onwards, North American culture, with its standard-bearer codes of pragmatism and modernity, was definitively imposed in Cuba, and stained glass windows were replaced by windows of calovar glass and the famous American shutter. Then came an impasse in which stained glass was relegated to the background, and only outstanding plastic artists such as René Portocarrero and Amelia Peláez devoted their attention to it. 

In the second half of the 20th century, Celia Sánchez breathed new life into Cuban stained glass, opening a workshop where young artists were initiated into this beautiful art. Among them was Rosa María de la Terga, a disciple of the Italian stained glass artist Nino Mastellari. At that time, Rosa María, a young student of seventeen, took part in the elaboration of the stained glass window that decorates the restaurant Las Ruinas, in Lenin Park, made by the master on a design by Portocarrero.

Rosa María de la Terga is substantially responsible for the new boom in stained glass in Cuba. She is the author of, just to mention a few examples, the magnificent skylights of the Café del Oriente and the Raquel Hotel, the stained glass windows of the Habana 1791 perfume shop, and the spectacular glasswork of the Paula Church. He has also decorated the Los Frailes hostel and countless other buildings remodelled by the Office of the Historian. There is scarcely a work of his style that does not bear the imprint of his style on the history of the capital.