Union Church Stained Glass

I am told that the stained glass has arrived for the windows of the restored Union Church on the Bund (restored but, rather importantly, not actually open for worship though popular with newly married couples having their photos taken!) – the earliest surviving church in Shanghai. Apparently the stained glass had to come from Germany.

Shame that the restorers couldn’t have sorted out some sort of training scheme or apprenticeships so that a new generation of Chinese craftsmen could have learnt how to make stained glass. There are a lot of new churches popping up around China, though many are built in traditional style – high ceilings, steeples and, stained glass. There are any number of existing ones in desperate need of repair and new stained glass (a lot was lost during the Cultural Revolution and, more recently, rampant redevelopment). Those craftsman could then also make some stained glass to replace that destroyed by vandalism such as the beautiful stained glass that once adorned the former Jesuit Recoleta Mission (Misioneras Agustinas Recoletas) on Rue Moliere (Xiangshan Road). That original stained glass was smashed out with hammers last year so that workmen at an adjacent site could get in and out of their temporary accommodation easier – a complete tragedy for which nobody was ever held responsible.