Now this is a subject not often discussed, and is understandably eclipsed by the avalanche of Islamic tile design which usually appears in the same locations. I spotted these two windows high up in the Bahia Palace in Marrakesh. While everyone else was busy peering at the floor and walls at the astonishing display of tiles which went on room after room and courtyard after courtyard, I looked up and found quite a few of these small stained glass windows in different parts of the Palace. The Bahia Palace was created by a Vizir in the late 19th Century within the walls of the south Medina and is surprisingly impressive despite it modest entrance fee of 10 dirhams (about 80p). I would definitely have paid more to see this.
The windows themselves follow geometric tile-like patterns and are of plain glass with no black pigment or decoration. In some ways these geometric designs lend themselves to stained glass except that they often produce shapes which are difficult to cut in glass especially star-shaped central lights which must have taken great skill to cut in the days before diamond glass saws. A disappointing aspect is that the glass is often of quite acidic orange or yellow tones. I’m not sure where the taste for this came from, though it is a colour that appears in many contemporary carpets. This larger window (below) is also from the Bahia palace and shows the flatness of the colours.
