Uruguay · Leaded and painted architectural stained glass
Vitral Montevideano
Leaded stained-glass windows for buildings, which in Montevideo flourished in a documented boom of 1920–1940, when a prosperous city favored interior courtyards crowned with glass. The craft's central figure was Arturo Marchetti (Milan, 1886 – Montevideo, 1958), who settled in Montevideo in 1912 and worked in an Art Nouveau-influenced style; his best-known work, the windows of the Palacio Legislativo, combines 82,000 pieces of glass in four motifs. As artistic director of Vidrierías Unidas S.A. from 1939 he encouraged new glass workshops, but the craft was declining by 1950 and the firm closed in 1991. His pupil Ruben Freire, among Uruguay's best-known stained-glass artists, practiced for more than 60 years. Gothic-influenced rosettes at the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores (Tierra Santa), at 8 de Octubre and Estero Bellaco, are associated with the same lineage.
Risk level: Critically Endangered · Not Applicable — no UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage inscription exists for this craft at time of writing
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