Revzen (stucco window)

A revzen is a window infill made from a thin plaster lattice, cast or carved, with small pieces of glass set into its openings. The plaster is both the frame that holds the glass and the ornament itself. The glass forms geometric, floral or calligraphic compositions, and in the literature these windows are also called stucco windows or kamerî.

Where it sits and what it does

Revzens are usually fixed windows. In mosques, tombs and the principal rooms of large mansions they sit above the lower row of opening windows, as clerestory or upper windows. The lower windows provide ventilation and a view out; the revzens above soften and colour the light and spread it across the interior. In many examples there is a plain, weather-resistant lattice on the outside and a richer coloured-glass lattice inside, with a small air gap between the two that protects the glass. Painted decoration, tiles and the mihrab are then read in a coloured light that changes through the day.

Revzens in survey and restoration

Plaster is sensitive to moisture, vibration and sudden temperature change, so cracks, broken lattice arms and missing glass are common. During documentation each window is numbered and its pattern recorded with scaled photography or photogrammetry. Repair keeps the original plaster, completes missing arms with a compatible plaster of the same character and replaces broken panes with glass matched in colour and thickness. Cement or hard synthetic fillers do not move with gypsum and are avoided. In restitution models and 3D visualization, treating a revzen as a light-filtering coloured surface rather than plain glass is the quickest way to capture the real mood of the space.