Re: Re: reordering and destruction of irish cathedrals – St Colmans Cathedral, Cobh

Franz Mayer & Co. of Munich who are responsible for stained glass in at least nine of Irelands Cathedral churches (Derry, Thurles, Letterkenny, Ballaghadereen, Waterford, Ballina, Enniscorthy, Carlow, Cobh) is an interesting firm. I found the snippet below on the site for St. Joseph’s Cathedral, Dunedin, New Zealand.

“Franz Mayer and Co., Munich. This firm has been working in stained glass from 1848 to the present day. According to Konrad Mayer (fourth generation), Franz Mayer had a school for crippled children. When their schooling finished about the age of fifteen, there were not job opportunities for these children. Franz Mayer founded his Art Studios to provide work for these handicapped children. It is said that at times as many as a hundred young people worked on church furnishings in his studios.
Regarding the windows in St. Joseph’s Cathedral, Dunedin, New Zealand the Franz Mayer and Co. firm state that the stained glass in the fourteen windows is genuine mouth-blown antic glass produced in Bavaria. The colouring of the glass is made by different metal oxides. After the artist has drawn his subject it is transferred on to pieces of glass to match the drawing in detail and colour. There can be as many as four to five hundred pieces in each window. The glass is put into a furnace and the colours thoroughly burnt in. This process results in the colour not deteriorating, and they grow more mellow and beautiful with the lapse of time.”

See attached some examples of their work.