A Ring of Light: Modern Stained Glass for the Church of the Heart of Mary in Humac

Most church windows tell a story one figure at a time. In Humac we were asked for something different: no saints, no scenes, just light, running all the way around the church.

The parish of the Heart of Mary

Humac lies in the valley of the Vrbas, in central Bosnia, between Gornji Vakuf Uskoplje and Bugojno. It belongs to the parish of Skopaljska Gračanica, founded in 1911 by Archbishop Josip Stadler of Vrhbosna. A new parish church was built in 1965, and in 1966 the parish was placed under the protection of the Heart of Mary. The church and parish house were rebuilt and the church was blessed again in 1998. In 2020 the parish marked its 109th anniversary, as Katolički tjednik reported, and you can follow its life on the parish website.

The church is wide and bright, with warm yellow walls, dark red columns and a roof that rises in a tent of white beams. Just under the roof, a band of clerestory windows runs around the whole building. That band was our canvas.

A full circle of glass

The commission, signed with the parish pastor, Fr. Tadija Ivoš, called for 8 new stained glass windows, 64 panels in all, about 441 square feet of glass. Stevan Stanisic designed them as one continuous composition: a full circle of modern stained glass, each window answering its neighbors.

Each window is made of 8 panels. Bands of deep blue, violet and turquoise rise from the center like rays, crossed by planes of yellow, cream, rose and green that step outward toward the edges. At the heart of each window a fine red line marks the middle, and the 2 halves mirror each other, so every wall of the church has its own balanced burst of color.

Installation, August 2009

The windows were made in our studio in Sombor, Republic of Serbia, and installed in August 2009. Working high under the roof took a tall rolling scaffold set up over the pews and a ladder on top of it. Boban Marjanovic climbed the ladder to set the panels in the frames, while Istvan "Pišta" Bala worked from the scaffold below.

Boban Marjanovic on the ladder, Istvan “Pišta” Bala on the scaffold The windows seen from the nave

Light from every side

From the pews, the windows sit just above the dark red columns, a band of color floating over the warm yellow walls and beneath the white beams of the roof. When the sun moves around the church during the day, the light moves from window to window with it.

See more of our stained glass commissions and sacred art.

Church: Church of the Heart of Mary, Humac, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Parish: Heart of Mary, Skopaljska Gračanica
Pastor: Fr. Tadija Ivoš
Work: 8 modern stained glass windows, 64 panels, about 441 sq ft
Design: Stevan Stanisic
Fabrication: Stanisic Studio, Sombor, Republic of Serbia
Installation: Boban Marjanovic and Istvan "Pišta" Bala
Completed: August 2009