18 September 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Danish museum says Vikings had stained glass Windows

New research shows that  Viking Age windows were created using stained glass in the 9th century, contrary to popular belief that stained-glass windows only emerged during the construction of medieval churches and castles in Denmark.

Researchers in Copenhagen analyzed 61 fragments of glass panes and concluded that the pieces of glass can be dated from long before the churches and castles of the Middle Ages and that Vikings had windows with glass panes between 800 and 1100. The Viking Age is considered to be from 793 to 1066.

“Several fragments of glass windows found on important Viking Age sites in South Scandinavia, made us wonder if it was just a mere coincidence that they were there,” says Torben Sode, the study’s lead author who first noticed the special find material. “And it wasn’t, they can be dated to the Vikings Age and most likely must have been in use in that time-period as well.”

The museum said glass windows were for the upper echelons of society and religious use, as was the case in the rest of Europe. These Viking Age windows were not the large, transparent windows we are accustomed to today. Instead, they likely consisted of smaller panes in various shades of green and brown, not meant for viewing the outside world but for infusing the interior of their buildings with colorful light.

The fact that glass windowpanes were uncommon in Denmark until several centuries later, when medieval churches and castles were built, is what makes the discovery so astonishing. This new information highlights the fact that the Vikings were much more advanced than commonly believed.

Viking Age window glass fragments discovered in Haithabu in Germany. Photo: C.S. Andersen,  Moesgaard  Museum / Museum  für Archäologie Schloss Gottorf /  Torben Sode et al.
Viking Age window glass fragments discovered in Haithabu in Germany. Photo: C.S. Andersen, Moesgaard Museum / Museum für Archäologie Schloss Gottorf / Torben Sode et al.

What shapes our architecture today was not common for a long time: window glazing was first documented in Roman times. However, this equipment was previously reserved for exclusive housing, and later church buildings were outfitted with transparent components. Until now, it was assumed that the spread of glass windows in the early Middle Ages was limited to the Christian-Roman cultural area. If the pagan Vikings had windows at all, they were most likely covered with translucent animal skins. Only in the later Middle Ages were stained glass windows clearly documented in Scandinavia’s first churches and castles.

“This is yet another shift away from the image of unsophisticated barbaric Vikings swinging their swords around,” told National Museum’s senior researcher Mads Dengsø Jessen. “In fact, we are talking about a cultivated Viking elite with royal power that equalled that, for example, of Charlemagne, king of the Franks. This is something that is often omitted in the simplistic Hollywood portraits of Vikings,”.

The study is based on analyses of glass pane fragments that were discovered over a 25-year period in six different excavations, including Viking noblemen’s farms, pre-Christian temples, and early urban environments. Five of the excavations were conducted in southern Scandinavia, and one was conducted in Hedeby, northern Germany.

Although the existence of glass has been known for a long time, no one analyzed it until now. This is because we only associated early window glass with the Middle Ages, therefore assuming that the glass could not originate from the Viking Age, but must have been the result of ‘pollution’ from later periods.


Map of the Viking sites where the Viking Age window glass fragments were discovered.  Photo: National Museum of Denmark
Map of the Viking sites where the Viking Age window glass fragments were discovered. Photo: National Museum of Denmark

Now, however, chemical isotope analyses of the glass panes show that the glass was made of soda glass, a practice from Egypt and the Near East, or potash glass that was made in Germany, and can be dated to between the years 800 and 1150.

The Vikings probably couldn’t have produced the material themselves, say the scientists. These could therefore have been looted items from their infamous raids. The glass panes were probably acquired through trade: “We know that well-known Vikings like Harald Klak visited the south, where the Vikings had a political network and close trade connections. And of course they also knew about glass panes from the buildings of the upper classes of society,” says Mads Dengsø Jessen from the Danish National Museum.

The team concludes that it can now be assumed that the finds are shards of glass panes that were already in windows in the Viking Age. As in the rest of Europe, they probably only adorned the houses of the upper social class or ceremonial buildings among the Vikings.

DANISH JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY

doi: 10.7146/dja.v12i1.131493

Related Articles

A 2,000-year-old whistle was found in a child’s grave in the ruins of Assos, Turkey

18 October 2022

18 October 2022

A terracotta whistle believed to be 2,000 years old from the Roman era and placed as a gift in a...

Archaeologists Discovered 8,200-year-old Eyeliner in Türkiye’s Yeşilova Höyük

16 September 2024

16 September 2024

During the archaeological excavations in Yeşilova Höyük (Yeşilova Mound) in Bornova district of Izmir, an 8,200-year-old kohl made of stone...

3,000-Year-Old Huge Settlement Discovered in Northern France

24 March 2025

24 March 2025

Archaeologists have unearthed a remarkable settlement in the Hauts-de-France region, dating back to the Late Bronze Age and early Iron...

Archaeologists uncovered an Aztec altar with human ashes in Mexico City

1 December 2021

1 December 2021

Archaeologists in Mexico have discovered a 16th-century altar in Plaza Garibaldi, the center in Mexico City famous for its revelry...

6,000-Year-Old “Kołobrzeg Venus”: A Remarkable Neolithic Discovery on the Baltic Coast

20 June 2025

20 June 2025

A remarkable archaeological discovery has emerged from the sandy shores of Poland’s Baltic coast near Kołobrzeg—a 6,000-year-old female figurine now...

Rare Piece Of Metal Armor Found At 17th-Century Fort In Maryland

1 March 2024

1 March 2024

A piece of body armor was unearthed during excavations at a 17th-century colonial fort in Maryland, a Mid-Atlantic state of...

A Polish-Croatian team discovered Ancient Roman Temple under a Croatian 18th Century church

24 November 2022

24 November 2022

Under an 18th-century church, the Church of St. Daniel in Danilo near Sibenik, Croatia, the foundations of an ancient Roman...

An 8,200-year-old temple structure found in Çatalhöyük

6 September 2022

6 September 2022

An 8,200-year-old temple structure was found during the 30th excavation season of the excavations at Çatalhöyük, one of the first...

Archaeologists Uncovered a Terracotta Commander and Warriors at the Mausoleum of China’s First Emperor

12 January 2025

12 January 2025

Archaeologists have unearthed a rare 2,000-year-old statue depicting a high-ranking military commander at the famous Terracotta Army site in China:...

New Study Exposes Origins of Welsh Dragons

7 June 2024

7 June 2024

In a new study conducted by a team from the University of Bristol and published in the Proceedings of the...

Kashmir’s Forgotten Temple? Shivlings and Ancient Idols Found Beneath Sacred Spring

4 August 2025

4 August 2025

A routine restoration of the Karkoot Nag spring in the Salia area of Aishmuqam, Anantnag district, Jammu & Kashmir, has...

New Huge Viking-age boat grave discovered by Radar in Norway

12 April 2022

12 April 2022

Archaeologists have located a boat grave from the Viking Age near Øyesletta in Norway during a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey....

Seven Roman altars multicolored in the Great Northern Museum

12 November 2021

12 November 2021

We know that the ancient world is now very colorful. But these colors weren’t just limited to robes and other...

Digitally Reconstructed: Roman Roads That Shaped 1,000 Years of Travel Across Medieval Britain

21 May 2025

21 May 2025

Researchers digitally reconstruct medieval England and Wales’ travel routes, revealing how Roman roads shaped post-Roman mobility over a thousand years....

Traces of Pozzolan Dust from Phlegraean Fields Found in a 1st-Century Roman Hydraulic Structure Submerged in Venetian Lagoon

29 November 2024

29 November 2024

In the San Felice Canal, in the northern Venetian Lagoon, a material used as an additive in Roman concrete was...