The Corpus Vitrearum International
The initiative for the systematic working on medieval stained glass came from the photographic documentation in relation to the rescuing of medieval glazing during the Second World War. Although, in the some European countries, scientific examination of this stock of historical monuments dates back to the end of the 19th century, the immediate contact with the illustrious works of monumental stained glass brought some initial attempts at a critical stock take. These individual initiatives were concentrated by the Swiss art historian Hans R. Hahnloser and led, in 1952 during the International Congress for the History of Art in Amsterdam, to the foundation of the CORPUS VITREARUM MEDII AEVI (CVMA), the first enterprise of art history to be organized at an international level.