For much of this period stained glass windows were the major pictorial art form, particularly in northern France, Germany and England, where windows tended to be larger than in southern Europe (in Italy, for example, frescos were more common). In some countries, such as Sweden and England, only a small number of original stained windows has survived to this day.
Stained glass windows were used predominantly in churches, but were also found in wealthy domestic settings and public buildings such as town halls, though surviving examples of secular glass are very rare indeed.
