Restoring a Stained Glass Window at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh

In 2011, the U.S. Department of State, through its Cultural Heritage Program, commissioned Stevan Stanisic to restore a damaged stained glass window at the American Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The window was designed in 1985 by the American painter and stained glass artist Brenda Belfield. Her subject was an artistic view of a traditional Saudi sliding window panel from the Middle Ages, translated into glass and lead.

The panel is built from geometry. 2 matching fields are filled with concentric arcs in amber, gold, deep red and cobalt blue that curve around dark centers, with small rings set with blue jewels between them. A red border studded with rows of round yellow and blue glass jewels frames both fields and runs between them, and bands of red and black glass complete the frame.

Restoring another artist's window is a different discipline from creating a new one. The goal is not to improve on the design. It is to return the work to the way its artist intended it to be seen, with every color, line and jewel in its place.

A window like this carries more than color. Installed in an embassy, it is an American artist's tribute to Saudi architecture, a quiet piece of cultural exchange set in glass. Caring for it was a privilege.

Client: U.S. Department of State, Cultural Heritage Program

Location: American Embassy, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Original design: Brenda Belfield, 1985

Restoration: Stevan Stanisic, 2011