The Origin of Windows
When you think about a home, you likely don’t think of a home as some cool, dark cave. You live in a home. You see homes every day of your life. You see them on the television, in magazines, and you pass them on the road. You visit a different home when you see your friends and family.
You know that a home is more than just four walls and a roof. You know a home is made up of a range of rooms like bathrooms and bedrooms. You know they have floors like hardwood and carpet. You know they have kitchens and attics and basements. You know that homes are far more than just walls.
Homes are also very bright and open very often, thanks to windows. You might not think so, but the home window has been around for many, many thousands of years. While they might not have been today’s items made out of quality synthetic materials for a dual-pane finish that is eco-friendly and helps you with cost savings, the idea of the window has long been around.
How They Got Their Start
When it comes to how the window got its start, it really all depends on how one wishes to define the term “window.” For many people, this means a glass pane that’s fixed into the wall. However, this isn’t the right definition.
If you really want to know about the window, you have to take it all the way back to ancient Egypt and the openings they used to leave in their dwellings and monuments. Think about it; the eyes are considered a “window” into the soul. All sorts of things can be considered a “window,” if it’s an opening. That’s because that’s what window means.
Tracing things all the way back to Egypt, many thousands of years ago, the window became a permanent fixture in ancient dwellings. Allowing light and air in, and some even speculate that people would dry their food from outside of these window openings. It’s really cool to think about how this concept has been with us for so long, especially considering how we’ve modernized these items.
The Ancient Romans Did It Again
Like most things that we see now that are modern, the ancient Romans were the first to get the proverbial ball rolling. This is also true with what we consider today to be the modern glass window. Most reputable historians claim that the first civilization to add glass into these window openings was the Romans, around 100AD.
While this glass looked nothing like the perfectly clear glass we have today, the concept was the same, and it was made similarly. From northern Egypt, where Rome eventually ended up ruling, up into the northernmost parts of Europe, you could find this glass all over, and we have the archaeological artifacts to prove it.
The Rise of Modern Window Types
Rome really set the standards for how the western world would evolve and much of the eastern world. There was a bit of sharing back and forth among ancient Asian and European cultures. So we started to see the window become more modernized and make appearances in today’s modern Turkey, the far east, and all throughout Europe.
Over the course of many centuries, the ability to make glass was refined, and around a thousand years ago, we started getting things like stained glass, and this type of window was huge in Gothic architecture for many centuries.
So by the time Europeans fled out and inhabited places like the Americas and Australia, the window had already become a cultural staple for all the people of that region. This is what allowed the concept to proliferate.
Today’s Window Varieties
The modern window is something entirely different from ancient varieties while also being similar. That might not make sense on its face, but the fact if that we wouldn’t have all of these window varieties we have today without the types we had back then.
Every new generation of window has been an improvement on the previous, even in the modern sense. Today’s window types can be synthetic frames with thick, multiple panes of glass. A lot different, though, than just an improvement on the same concept.
So the next time you think about that set of windows in your home, take a moment to appreciate the journey and the innovation behind what you have in your home today.