vitrail part one

The apothecary was only the start of the vitrail museum, as the French word ‘Vitrail’ means stained glass, and that was what we had really come to see.

We headed back to the main entrance, where an old, winding, wooden staircase leads you upwards, wrapping around a cascade of coloured, glass pendant lights. It’s a rather spectacular arrangement, whetting your appetite for the displays ahead.

The staircase climbs to the third floor (there is a lift if needed). The walk up is gentle, and gives you the chance to view the light installation from many different angles.

On the third floor, tucked into the roof space, there are two galleries. The first explains the process of making stain glass windows, and the restoration techniques involved, touching on some of the renovations that have been made to stained glass in-situ around the Aube.

The cité du vitrail is not just a museum, it’s the starting point for the discovery of the richness of stained glass in the department of the Aube, which has a dense, magnificent collection that you can discover in any one of the 350 buildings recognised as having historically important glass across the region. Some form part of the unique ‘Route du vitrail’, which is found in a web-based tour guide route-vitrail.fr which is presented in English and French.

The second gallery, on the third floor, brings together some of these examples, focussing on the styles and different techniques behind the creation of stained glass.