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It is clear that the very first mirror was an ordinary ... puddle. But here's the trouble - you can't take it with you and you can't hang it on the wall at home.

People have always wanted to see their own image. Long before the appearance of mirrors, our ancestors tried to grind and polish a wide variety of materials. Stone (pyrite,) and metal (gold, silver, bronze, tin, copper) were used. The age of the most ancient mirrors is about 5 thousand years. These are, as a rule, gold or silver discs, carefully polished on one side and with patterns on the other. In order to make it convenient to look at, a handle was attached to the disks.

A completely new type of mirror - concave - appeared only in 1240, when they learned how to blow glass vessels. The master blew a large ball, then poured molten tin into the tube (there was no other way to combine metal with glass), and when the tin spread evenly over the inner surface and cooled down, the ball was broken into pieces. And, please: you can look as much as you like, only it was, to put it mildly, a little distorted.

Medieval Venice was famous for the art of making glass mirrors. In 1291, all the glassmakers of this republic were moved to the island of Murano. The authorities explained that this was necessary for fire safety purposes, but in fact it was done to keep a stricter eye on glassmakers. Although they were highly respected and the title of glazier was considered no less honorable than the title of nobleman, the masters, on pain of death, were forbidden to divulge the secrets of their craft. For quite a long time they were made and sold only in Venice. However, in the 17th century, France managed to master the secret of making Venetian glass. The high cost of fashion products prompted her to do this. According to the French Minister of Finance Colbert, a Venetian mirror measuring 115 by 65 centimeters in a silver frame cost 68,000 livres, while a painting by Raphael of the same format cost only 3,000! The minister believed that they were threatening the country with ruin. This was not an exaggeration. French aristocrats, boasting to each other of their wealth, paid fortunes for them. On top of that, the queen appeared at one of the court balls in a dress strewn with pieces of mirrors. A dazzling radiance emanated from her, but this “splendor” cost the country too much. And Colbert decided on extreme measures. He sent his confidants to the island of Murano. They bribed two craftsmen and smuggled them out at night in a small boat to France. Soon, in the French town of Tour la Ville, the first mirror manufactory in Europe appeared.

It was in France that they came up with the idea of ​​obtaining glass not by blowing, but by casting. Molten glass from a melting pot was poured onto a flat surface and rolled out with a roller. Flat glass was “wetted” with mercury and thus a thin layer of tin was glued to its surface.

In the Middle Ages, the mirror was not favored. Mirrors of that time - a convex shape with a dark surface - caused superstitious fear and were referred to only as mirrors of sorceresses. Every decent witch had in her arsenal not only a large cauldron for preparing potions, but also a small mirror. It was supposed to be fed by the light of the full moon, and hidden from the sun during the day. It was believed that with the help of this magical item, a witch could cause damage and the evil eye, summon the devil and keep demons and evil spirits locked up.

The Inquisition looked at the mirrors with suspicion. So, in 1321, the girl Beatrice de Planissol was accused of heresy and sentenced to life imprisonment only because a mirror was found among her things. The very fact of owning such a thing could lead a woman not only to prison, but also to the stake. They also disliked mirrors in Russia - until the 17th century they were not put on display, but were curtained with taffeta or hidden in chests.

The mirror in the icon case, decorated with fine pewter lace, was once a present from Princess Sophia (the ruler under the boy tsars Ivan and Peter) to her heartfelt friend, Prince Golitsyn.

In 1689, on the occasion of the disgrace of the prince and his son Alexei, 76 mirrors were written off to the treasury (mirror passions were already raging among the Russian nobility), but the prince hid the mirror of the princess and took it with him to exile in the Arkhangelsk region. After his death, the mirror, among other things, according to the will of the prince, ended up in a monastery near Pinega, survived and survived to this day. Now it is stored in the funds of the Arkhangelsk Museum of Local Lore.

In Russia, in the era of Peter I, many new crafts were born, including glass. The demand for window glass, mirrors and tableware was very high. In 1705, they began to build a manufactory on Sparrow Hills in Moscow - "a stone barn eighty-three feet long, ten arshins high, in which a melting furnace was made of white clay bricks." Other factories also appeared, and in Russia mirror glass was made of such enormous size that it was surprising in many countries.

Various architectural styles and fashions have changed, but there has always been a place for a mirror. In the 13th century, strict Gothic gave way to lush Baroque. Well, how can you do without mirrors! They were used both as decoration for walls and fireplaces in palaces, and as decoration for the modest dwellings of ordinary citizens. By the beginning of the 18th century, baroque was replaced by rococo, the most pampered and sophisticated style. Entire mirror rooms and galleries are being built here. In the Mirror Gallery of Versailles, for example, 306 mirrors seemed to move apart the walls of the room and intensify the power of light coming from candles and chandeliers. Then rococo gave way to strict classicism - mirrors began to decorate the main staircases, ballrooms, living quarters. Since the beginning of the 20th century, mirrors have lost their exoticism and become a common household item.

For a long time, a mirror has been considered a magical object, full of secrets and magic (and even evil spirits). It faithfully served and still serves the pagan cults of many peoples who see in it the cosmic power of the Sun.

Even the ancient Egyptians interpreted the cross, turning into a circle, as an erotic life key. And many centuries later, in the era of the European Renaissance, in this symbol they saw the image of a ladies' dressing mirror with a handle, in which the goddess of love Venus loved to look at herself so much.

Another legend says that Preseus killed Medusa-Gargona using the mirror image of his shield. Her gaze was supposed to turn the hero to stone, but shielding himself and not meeting Medusa's gaze, he was able to cut off her head, seeing only her reflection.

The Japanese believe that it is to the mirror that all the nations of the world owe the fact that the sun rises daily on earth. According to an ancient myth, the sun goddess Amaterasu was deeply offended by her brother Susanoo and locked herself in a deep stone grotto. Without light and heat, all life on earth began to die. Then, concerned about the fate of the world, the gods decided to lure the bright Amaterasu out of the cave. Knowing the curiosity of the goddess, an elegant necklace was hung on the branches of a tree standing next to the grotto, a mirror was placed next to it and the sacred rooster was ordered to sing loudly. At the cry of a bird, Amaterasu looked out of the grotto, seeing the necklace, could not resist the temptation to try it on. And I could not help but look in the mirror to appreciate the decoration on myself. As soon as the bright Amaterasu looked into the mirror, the world lit up and remains so to this day. The mirror is still included in the obligatory set of gifts for a Japanese girl who has reached the age of nine. It symbolizes honesty, directness, purity, and the fact that all women are still as curious as Amaterasu.

The mirror object was widely used in the works of ancient Chinese literature. Ancient writers often compared the full moon, or an honest noble husband, with a mirror. Sometimes the mirror served as a metaphor for a person with a penetrating mind with a broad view of the world. The expression "The broken mirror has regained its former appearance" refers to the happy reunion of a previously separated married couple.

This story took place in the 9th century AD, when the powerful Sui dynasty ruled in the north of China, and the south of the country was fragmented, there were many small specific kingdoms. The state of Cheng with its capital Jiankang was just one of such specific kingdoms. The Sui dynasty had long wanted to annex the lands of southern China to their possessions and was ready to attack the southern kingdoms at any moment.

Xu Deyan was the chamberlain of the Emperor of the State of Cheng named Cheng Shubao. Xu was married to the Emperor's younger sister Princess Lechang. The young married couple lived in love and harmony, they loved each other very much. Xu knew the situation in the kingdom well, he deeply felt the weakness of power and the decline of Cheng. He understood that the country was facing imminent destruction.

One day, saddened, he said to his wife: “In our kingdom, great unrest will soon begin. I will have to stand up for the emperor and then we will have to part. But if we are alive, we will definitely be together. Being apart, we must leave the talisman as evidence of our feelings and hope for a future meeting.

Princess LeChang was in complete agreement with her husband. And then Xu Deyan brought one bronze mirror and split it into two parts, leaving one part for himself, and gave the other to his wife, instructing her to carefully keep it. Xu told her that if they parted for a long time, then on the 15th day of the 10th month of the lunar calendar, let her ask the servant to sell half the mirror in the market. He will definitely come to the call of his beloved and, with the help of his shard, will restore the mirror. So they will be together again.

The number of superstitions associated with mirrors in Russia is second only to the number of Chinese signs on the same occasion. In different regions of Russia, the traditions of using mirrors in divination have acquired directly opposite signs. In the south, love is bewitched on a black mirror, in the northern provinces - the disease of an enemy. They agree on only one thing: to break a mirror - to death or at least seven years of misfortune. Few people know a simple and effective way to "disown" from future troubles. A broken mirror should be honored: buried, sincerely apologizing to him for his clumsiness.

There are beliefs and myths that vampires and ghosts are not reflected in the mirror. Perhaps this is due to the fact that in ancient times people believed that mirrors not only reflect the appearance of a person, but also his soul, and can also store it in themselves. Thus, deprived of the soul, according to legend, vampires could not be reflected in the mirrors.

In Russia, mirrors were endowed with magical properties: not a single Christmas divination was complete without a smooth mirror surface, repeating the flutter of a candle light. Young girls tried to see their betrothed in the reflection.

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John Pecum described a method for coating glass with a thin layer of tin.

The production of the mirror looked like this. The master poured molten tin into the vessel through a tube, which spread evenly over the surface of the glass, and when the ball cooled, it was broken into pieces. The first mirror was imperfect: concave fragments slightly distorted the image, but it became bright and clear.

Application

Application in everyday life

The first mirrors were created in order to monitor one's own appearance [ ] .

Currently, mirrors, especially large ones, are widely used in interior design to create the illusion of space, large volume in small rooms. Such a tradition arose in the Middle Ages, as soon as the technical possibility of creating large mirrors appeared in France, not as ruinously expensive as the Venetian ones. Since that time, not a single wardrobe is complete without mirrors [ ] .

Mirrors as reflectors

Application in scientific instruments

As an optical instrument, flat, concave and convex spherical, parabolic, hyperbolic and elliptical mirrors are used.

Mirrors are widely used in optical instruments - spectrophotometers, spectrometers in other optical instruments:

• SLR Cameras
• Lenses, for example, a mirror-lens telephoto lens of the Maksutov system (MTO).
• Periscope and mirror pseudoscope

Safety devices, car and traffic mirrors

In cases where a person's view is limited for some reason, mirrors are especially useful. So, in every car, on road bikes there is one or more mirrors, sometimes slightly convex - to expand the field of vision.

On the roads and in tight parking lots, stationary convex mirrors help avoid collisions and accidents.

In video surveillance systems, mirrors provide a view in more directions from a single video camera.

Translucent mirrors

Translucent mirrors are sometimes referred to as "mirror glasses" or "one-way glasses". Such glasses are used for covert observation of people (in order to control behavior or espionage), while the spy is in a dark room, and the object of observation is in a lighted one. The principle of operation of mirror glass is that a dim spy is not visible against a bright reflection.

Application in the military

In medieval texts, a mirror is an image, a symbol of another world. The mirror is a symbol of eternity, since it contains everything that has passed, what is now, everything that is to come.

The literary device "through the looking glass" is widely used by the authors of books. The most famous was Lewis Carroll's dilogy - Alice in Wonderland and Alice in Through the Looking Glass. A similar technique was used by Gaston Leroux: in the book The Phantom of the Opera, Christina enters the underground dwelling of the Phantom through a mirror. Through the mirror in Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors Olya gets in - the heroine of the fairy tale of the same name by Vitaly Gubarev and staged on it

GOU SOSH № 000

Prepared by: Ekaterina Burkova, 9 "A" class.

The mirror, having become an integral part of everyday life, opens up a new world to a person - through the looking glass. Looking into the mirror, we see what we dream about - an enlarged space, a mysterious appearance, another world. It is believed that the larger the mirror, the closer to us the mystery of the parallel world.

Since ancient times, the mirror has been considered a magical object, full of secrets and magic. People have always wanted to see their own image. It is clear that the very first mirror was an ordinary ... puddle. But here's the trouble - you can't take it with you and you can't hang it on the wall at home. Long before the appearance of mirrors, our ancestors tried to grind and polish a wide variety of materials. Stone (pyrite, rock crystal) and metal (gold, silver, tin) were used, but such mirrors were very expensive and, being of great value, were the property of rich people. After the "invention" of the first alloy - bronze - bronze mirrors came into use. Bronze and copper mirrors were widespread among the Romans and Greeks. Many of these mirrors were found during the excavations of Pompeii. Bronze metal mirrors , copper and silver have existed for a very long time.

The age of the most ancient mirrors is about 5 thousand years. These are, as a rule, gold or silver discs, carefully polished on one side and with patterns on the other. In order to make it convenient to look at, a handle was attached to the disks.

But the history of the mirror began already in the third millennium BC. The oldest metal mirrors were almost always round in shape, and their reverse side was covered with patterns. Bronze and silver were used for their manufacture. The first glass mirrors were created by the Romans in the 1st century AD: a glass plate was combined with a lead or tin lining, so the image turned out to be more lively than on metal. And the Greek philosopher Socrates ordered young men to look in the mirror more often - so that those who have a decent appearance do not disfigure it with vices, and those who are ugly take care to adorn themselves with good deeds.

With the beginning of the Middle Ages, glass mirrors completely disappeared: almost simultaneously, all religious denominations considered that the devil himself was looking at the world through the mirror glass. Medieval women of fashion had, as of old, to use polished metal and ... special basins of water. Carefully polished mirrors were widely used to heal the sick. They treated tuberculosis, dropsy, smallpox and any mental illness. Amazingly, many sufferers actually recovered. It is believed that metals of warm shades (bronze, brass, gold, copper) absorb "cold", depressing energies and reflect "warm", "sunny". Metals of cold shades act exactly the opposite. By manipulating mirrors made of different materials, the ancestors carried out biostimulation of the body. The patient began to actively resist the disease.

The Japanese believe that it is to the mirror that all the nations of the world owe the fact that the sun rises daily on earth. According to an ancient myth, the sun goddess Amaterasu was deeply offended by her brother Susanoo and locked herself in a deep stone grotto. Without light and heat, all life on earth began to die. Then, concerned about the fate of the world, the gods decided to lure the bright Amaterasu out of the cave. Knowing the curiosity of the goddess, an elegant necklace was hung on the branches of a tree standing next to the grotto, a mirror was placed next to it and the sacred rooster was ordered to sing loudly. At the cry of a bird, Amaterasu looked out of the grotto, seeing the necklace, could not resist the temptation to try it on. And I could not help but look in the mirror to appreciate the decoration on myself. As soon as Amaterasu looked into the mirror, the world lit up and remains so to this day. The mirror is still included in the obligatory set of gifts for a Japanese girl who has reached the age of nine. It symbolizes honesty, directness, purity, and the fact that all women are still as curious as Amaterasu.

Glass mirrors, despite the fact that glass was invented a very long time ago, appeared relatively late. This is explained by the fact that for the manufacture of a mirror, sufficient knowledge was already needed, which was not yet available in antiquity. The glass mirror is essentially also a metal mirror. After all, metal is reflective in it, only in the form of a thin layer deposited on a smooth glass surface. Glass, therefore, is only a transparent base, holding on itself the thinnest metal mirror. To make a mirror, it was necessary to have completely colorless, clean, transparent, smooth glass on one side, the thinnest layer of metal, the mirror itself, on the other. An ideal and durable coating of the glass surface with metal was the third necessary condition for the manufacture of such a common glass mirror in our everyday life. For the first time, more or less satisfactorily, these conditions were implemented about 600 years ago, when the first glass mirrors began to appear.

And so glass mirrors reappeared only in the 13th century. But they were... concave. The manufacturing technology of that time did not know how to "glue" a tin lining to a flat piece of glass. Therefore, molten tin was simply poured into a glass flask, and then it was broken into pieces. Only three centuries later, the masters of Venice figured out how to cover a flat surface with tin. Gold and bronze were added to reflective compositions, so all objects in the mirror looked more beautiful than in reality. The cost of one Venetian mirror was equal to the cost of a small sea vessel.

Thus, medieval Venice was famous for the art of making glass mirrors. Glassmaking, as an organized trade, originated in Venice in the 8th century. This was facilitated by 2 factors - the invention by the ancient Romans back in 50 BC. e. glass blowing method and the convenient geographical position of the city, which served as a crossroads of trade routes between Europe and Eastern countries, primarily the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa.

The master blew a large ball, then poured molten tin into the tube (there was no other way to combine metal with glass), and when the tin spread evenly over the inner surface and cooled down, the ball was broken into pieces. And, please: you can look as much as you like, only the reflection was, to put it mildly, a little distorted.

The Venetians not only collected knowledge that they themselves flowed into their hands, but also showed miracles of dexterity in obtaining other people's secrets. The cunning ruler, who managed to reorient the 4th Crusade in the direction he needed, with the conquest of Constantinople in 1204, gained access to the secrets of glassmaking of the great empire, which served as a huge impetus for the development of this craft in Venice.
By the end of the 13th century, the number of glass factories, which often had fires, had grown in Venice so much that it began to threaten the existence of the city itself. In 1291, all the glassmakers of this republic were moved to the island of Murano, located 1.5 km from Venice. The authorities explained that this was necessary for fire safety purposes, but in fact it was done to keep a stricter eye on glassmakers. The island was already inhabited during the period of the Roman Empire and received the name Ammurianum. On it, local residents fled from barbarian raids. Until the 10th century, Murano was an important commercial settlement and port city. Throughout the history of the Venetian Republic, the island had an independent administrative government, as well as its own coinage (in silver and gold). In the 17th century, Murano is famous for the originality of its nightlife, especially gambling.

A specially created "Council of Ten" jealously guarded the secrets of glassmaking, encouraging the craftsmen in every possible way, at the same time isolating them from the outside world: the profits from the monopoly were too great to lose it. The islands were the perfect place to control the artisans and keep professional secrecy. Masters, under pain of death, were forbidden to divulge the secrets of their craft. In addition, the island location of production facilitated the task of collecting taxes for the treasury.

The reflective surface of the first mirrors was made of a lead-antimony alloy, but it quickly dimmed in air and lost the properties necessary for a mirror.

200 years later, a mercury-tin alloy was found. It had good reflectivity, and despite the great harmfulness of production (mirror builders were poisoned in the manufacture of this alloy with mercury vapor) until almost the middle of the 19th century. was indispensable in the mirror business. So, around 1500, in France, they came up with the idea of ​​"wetting" flat glass with mercury and thus sticking thin tin foil on its surface. However, flat glass in those days was incredibly expensive, and they were only able to make it well in Venice. Venetian merchants, without thinking twice, negotiated a patent from the Flemings and for a century and a half held a monopoly on the production of excellent "Venetian" mirrors (which should be called Flemish).

At the beginning of the 16th century, the brothers Andrea Domenico from Murano cut a still hot cylinder of glass lengthwise and rolled it in half on a copper tabletop. The result was a sheet mirror canvas, distinguished by its brilliance, crystal transparency and purity. This is how the main event in the history of mirror production took place.

The authorities of the city of Murano vigilantly ensured that the secrets of craftsmanship did not float away to strangers. Using a policy of "carrot and stick", as well as all sorts of restrictions, they tried to keep unique technologies secret. It was forbidden, for example, to export abroad even materials for the preparation of glass mass. And for trying to leave Venice, the master could face death.

And so, starting in the 16th century, mirrors once again regained their glory as the most mysterious and most magical objects ever created by man. With the help of games with reflection, they learned and changed the future, summoned dark forces, multiplied the harvest and performed countless rituals. Sober-minded people found more useful uses for mirrors. Intelligence in Spain and France for two hundred years in a row successfully used the cipher system invented in the 15th century by Leonardo da Vinci. The main feature of cryptograms was their "turning inside out". Dispatches were written and encrypted in "mirror reflection" and without a mirror were simply unreadable. The same ancient invention was the periscope. The ability to observe enemies unnoticed with the help of a system of mutually reflecting mirrors saved many lives for the warriors of Islam. The children's game of "sunbeams" was almost universally used by all combatants during the famous Thirty Years' War. It is difficult to aim when thousands of mirrors blind your eyes.

However, in the 15th century, France managed to master the secret of making Venetian glass. The high cost of fashion products prompted her to do this. According to the French Minister of Finance Colbert, a Venetian mirror measuring 115 by 65 centimeters in a silver frame cost 68,000 livres, while a painting by Raphael of the same format cost only 3,000! The minister believed that mirrors threatened the country with ruin. This was not an exaggeration. French aristocrats, boasting to each other of their wealth, paid fortunes for them.

On top of that, the queen appeared at one of the court balls in a dress strewn with pieces of mirrors. A dazzling radiance emanated from her, but this "magnificence" cost the country too much. At the end of the 16th century, succumbing to fashion, the French Queen Marie Medici decided to acquire a mirror cabinet, for which 119 mirrors were purchased in Venice.

Apparently, in gratitude for the large order, the Venetian masters presented the queen with a unique mirror trimmed with agates, onyxes, emeralds and inlaid with precious stones. Today it is kept in the Louvre.

Mirrors were extremely expensive. Only very wealthy aristocrats and royalty could buy and collect them. In France, a certain Countess de Fiesque parted with her estate in order to buy a mirror she liked, and the Duchess de Lude sold silver furniture for melting down in order to purchase a mirror one.

Therefore, Colbert, in order not to ruin France, decided on extreme measures. He sent his confidants to the island of Murano. They bribed two craftsmen and smuggled them out at night in a small boat to France. Soon, in the French town of Tour la Ville, the first mirror manufactory in Europe appeared. Nevertheless, the secret of producing the most colored Murano glass remained unapproachable.

The French turned out to be capable students and soon even surpassed their teachers. Mirror glass began to be obtained not by blowing, as was done in Murano, but by casting. The technology is as follows: molten glass is poured directly from the melting pot onto a flat surface and rolled out with a roller. The author of this method is called Luca De Nega.

The invention came in handy: the Gallery of Mirrors was being built in Versailles. It was 73 meters long and needed large mirrors. In Saint-Gabin, 306 of these mirrors were made in order to stun with their radiance those who were lucky enough to visit the king at Versailles. How then was it not possible to recognize the right of Louis XIV to be called the "Sun King"?

In 1846, a method was found for coating glass with a thin layer of silver. For ten years this method has been improved. And only after 1855, when the French chemist Ptizhan and the outstanding German chemist Liebig found simple recipes for applying silver to glass, did the glass-based silver mirror become widespread.

Mirrors in Russia.

In Russia, almost until the end of the 17th century, the mirror was considered an overseas sin. Pious people avoided him. The church council of 1666 took and forbade clerics to keep mirrors in their homes. Perhaps that is why the number of superstitions associated with mirrors in Russia is second only to the number of Chinese signs on the same occasion. In different regions of Russia, the traditions of using mirrors in divination have acquired directly opposite signs. In the south, love is bewitched on a black mirror, in the northern provinces - the disease of an enemy. They agree on only one thing: to break a mirror - to death or at least seven years of misfortune. Few people know a simple and effective way to "disown" from future troubles. A broken mirror must be honorably ... buried, sincerely apologizing to him for his clumsiness.

"Only mirrors in a small format were brought from abroad in large quantities and were part of the women's toilet," he wrote. And the historian Zabelin explains that in Russia “mirrors gained importance for room furniture almost from the second half of the 17th century, but even at that time they were the decoration of only the interior bed rooms in the choir and did not yet have a place in the main reception rooms ...” We add that and there they were hidden by curtains of taffeta and silk, or kept in icon cases. The time has come for Russia to make its own mirrors. In the era of Peter I, many new crafts were born, including glass. The demand for window glass, mirrors and tableware was very high. In 1705, they began to build a manufactory on Sparrow Hills in Moscow - "a stone barn eighty-three feet long, ten arshins high, in which a melting furnace was made of white clay bricks." Other factories also appeared, and in Russia mirror glass was made of such enormous size that it was surprising in many countries.

The mirror in the icon case, decorated with fine pewter lace, was once a present from Princess Sophia (the ruler under the boy tsars Ivan and Peter) to her heartfelt friend, Prince Golitsyn. In 1689, on the occasion of the disgrace of the prince and his son Alexei, 76 mirrors were written off to the treasury (mirror passions were already raging among the Russian nobility), but the prince hid the mirror of the princess and took it with him to exile in the Arkhangelsk region. After his death, the mirror, among other things, according to the will of the prince, ended up in a monastery near Pinega, survived and survived to this day. Now it is stored in the funds of the Arkhangelsk Museum of Local Lore.

Having become an important element of furniture and decor, the mirror required an appropriate frame. Artistic taste, peculiar talents of jewelers and artists, national coloring, craftsmanship and, of course, time, which both crafts and art are subject to, found expression in mirror frames.

Various architectural styles and fashions have changed, but there has always been a place for a mirror. In the 13th century, strict Gothic gave way to opulent Baroque. Well, how can you do without mirrors! They were used both as decoration for walls and fireplaces in palaces, and as decoration for the modest dwellings of ordinary citizens. By the beginning of the 18th century, baroque was replaced by rococo, the most pampered and sophisticated style. Entire mirror rooms and galleries are being built here. So in the Versailles Mirror Gallery, for example, 306 mirrors seemed to push the walls of the room apart and intensify the power of light coming from candles and chandeliers. Then rococo gave way to strict classicism - mirrors began to decorate the main staircases, ballrooms, living quarters.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, mirrors have lost their exoticism and become a common household item. Today they are widely used in technology. Today, with the help of reflected sunlight, they cook metal, heat houses, cook food, increase seed yields, conduct "light massage" sessions, build telescopes, searchlights, lighthouses, microscopes, telephoto lenses, optical resonators, cameras, incandescent lamps and ... It is impossible to enumerate all areas of application of this seemingly "frivolous" invention of man! The mirror plays an important role in our daily life. A mirror is not a luxury item, but an urgent need. The impossibility of seeing oneself for a modern person is almost unthinkable. Shaving, correcting carelessness in clothes, caring for the condition of the face and much more cannot be done without a mirror. And it is not surprising that the mirror is one of the ancient objects of human use.

The relaxation mirror is one of the novelties successfully used in psychological relief rooms. However, the essence of the novelty is literally consecrated for centuries. To relieve fatigue, it is proposed to use the law of binocular vision. Anyone who, from overwork, begins to see poorly, can put a burning candle in front of him. Behind it, at a distance of 5-10 cm, place a mirror and look alternately at the dancing light, then at its reflection. A living light, especially its tip, will alternately excite the receptive fields of the human retina and indirectly the cells of the frontal lobes of the brain, which, having received information from the right eye and the left, will build an image of living fire. It is this image that will unload the muscles, normalize the pressure inside the eye and relieve the incipient disorder.

Geopathogenic zones are considered by many to be fiction. But this is a scientifically established fact. Energy flows that occur at the site of anomalies in the earth's crust bring tangible harm to health. The geopathogenic zone in your apartment will help to detect an ordinary domestic cat. She will actively avoid the place where the flow passes. And to cope with harmful radiation will help ... an ordinary mirror. Putting it under linoleum or carpeting, reflecting surface down, you can significantly reduce, and sometimes even get rid of harmful radiation. However, dowsing experts insist that the mirror also successfully reflects useful energy coming from space. Therefore, it is strictly forbidden to put "magic glass" with a shiny surface up.
It is known that the optical surface of even the best mirror not only reflects, but also partially absorbs, which means it “remembers” the energy incident on it. Esotericists are convinced that information "remembered" by a mirror can be emitted and act on our subconscious. There is also a version that a person is the only living being capable of recognizing himself in a mirror. The mirror is the main criterion of our self-esteem. If you do not like your appearance every day, it is difficult to count on a good mood and well-being. Therefore, in front of the mirror, you need to smile more often. And vice versa - as rarely as possible to approach him in a bad mood.

The popular Chinese teaching of feng shui gives mirrors a special meaning. They are a kind of "redistributors" of vital energy in the right direction. In order for the hearth to be harmonious, it is strictly forbidden to place mirrors in the bedroom opposite the bed and in the corridor opposite the front door. On the contrary: mirrors placed next to the table in the living room or in the kitchen will attract all sorts of well-being into the house. The interior, made using mirror tiles, in which the reflection “crushes” will also negatively affect the attitude of the owners. Such a tile should be located in such a way that it excludes a direct reflection of the residents. Mirrors should be as large as possible. When leaving for work, it is useful to leave any banknote in front of the home mirror - let the finances be reflected and multiply.

The choice of mirrors for the home is a responsible event. The current abundance of models can satisfy the most demanding taste. However, when going to the store to purchase "magic glass", it is worth remembering that not only the design or the quality of processing is important. For thousands of years behind the mirrors the glory of the most magical and mysterious objects has been preserved. Therefore, it is very important to follow a simple rule: you need to buy only the mirror in which you liked yourself.

The South American Indians considered the mirror a portal to another world - one that no man can penetrate. The Chinese have learned to make "magic" mirrors, and the Venetians are fabulously expensive. And, perhaps, nowhere in the world this mysterious invention was left without a trail of legends, beliefs, curses and mysteries, many of which exist to this day.

Bronze Age mirrors

M. de Caravaggio. "Narcissus"

Once upon a time, you could see your reflection only by looking into a reservoir of stagnant water, as Narcissus did from ancient Greek mythology. But then a mirror appeared - the exact history, as well as the time of its occurrence, is lost in the very distant past. Apparently, it all started with polished obsidian plates - natural volcanic glass.

Such finds were made on the territory of modern Turkey and are dated to the seventh millennium BC. It was already the Bronze Age, and in addition to obsidian as a material for the manufacture of a reflective object, this particular alloy of copper and tin gradually began to be used. Bronze mirrors were made round - in the shape of the Sun - both as a sign of reverence for the main deity, and as a sign that it was the mirror that reflected the sun's rays.

Probably, different cultures of the world came to the idea of ​​creating smooth polished surfaces on their own, in any case, mirrors made in the Bronze Age and at the beginning of the Iron Age are found in different parts of the globe. For many peoples, the mirror was used in magical rites and endowed with magical properties. And in ancient China, as a confirmation of their magical nature, some bronze mirrors seemed to demonstrate real magic. Flat on one side and adorned with pattern and relief on the other, they, as expected, showed a reflection of what was in front of them. But if with the help of such a mirror the sunlight was reflected, directing it to the wall, instead of the usual sunbeam on the wall, a pattern on the back side became visible.

For an ancient person, this demonstration was not, perhaps, a serious puzzle, because mirrors and without it were credited with a connection with another world, but it is interesting that an exact explanation of this property of some Chinese magic mirrors has not been received so far. The versions put forward - including those about small curvature of the mirror surface, about the effect of acid, which creates a pattern invisible to the eye on the polished side - could explain the effect obtained, and such experiments were successfully carried out by specialists, but still the secret of Chinese masters that would shed light on the ancient profession of a mirror craftsman remains unidentified. Not all mirrors made in China possessed "magical" properties; in general, the production of these bronze objects, decorated with various kinds of ornaments, became widespread by the end of the first millennium BC.

A large number of ancient mirrors were found in Siberia, in the Minusinsk Basin - several hundred bronze items belonging to different periods and different cultures. On the back side, there are not just ornaments, but whole scenes, especially emphasizing the ritual significance of the mirror for its owner. Obviously, often these items served as an amulet.
From China, mirrors came to the Korean Peninsula, from where the Japanese adopted the method of their manufacture. During the Yayoi and Kofun periods, a bronze mirror was left in the graves of rulers and aristocrats as a way to help the deceased enter the afterlife. In Buddhism, which came to the islands in the sixth century, mirrors also performed ritual functions.

Mirrors in antiquity

From Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, where a polished copper plate was used to obtain a reflective surface, the technology of making a mirror came to the ancient world. Mirrors were made, in particular, in Cyprus, where there was a large copper deposit. Therefore, the goddess Aphrodite - nicknamed Cyprida after her birthplace - was often depicted with a mirror, which was also a symbol of female beauty. According to some versions, it was the mirror that was held in the hands of the famous statue of Venus de Milo. Philosophers also treated the mirror with respect: Socrates urged to look at one's reflection in order to know and then improve oneself.

The Greeks sang the miraculous power of mirror reflection in mythology - in the battle with Medusa the Gorgon, it was it that helped Perseus win: in order not to meet the gaze of the monster that turns all living things into stone, the hero fought, looking into his shield, as if into a mirror, and was able to cut off Medusa head. But the “mirror of Archimedes” is no longer so mythological in nature, although the reliability of the very fact of burning the enemy fleet with the help of the “death ray” is being questioned. It is traditionally believed that in the Battle of Syracuse, the Greek warriors used the method invented by Archimedes to set fire to enemy ships by directing the sun's rays reflected from the shields at them.

The sign of the female, "mirror of Venus", goes back to the traditional form of antique mirrors.

Metal and stone mirrors, although they performed their function, still had significant drawbacks - they needed constant polishing, and the reflection turned out to be dark and fuzzy. In this, metal mirrors were significantly outperformed by glass ones, the first of which began to be created in the first century AD in the territory of modern Lebanon.

Glass mirrors in Europe

In Europe, the production of glass mirrors dates back to the 13th century. For their manufacture, a glass vessel was used, into which molten tin was poured during the blowing process, then the solidified product was broken, and a mirror was made from the fragments.

The process was time-consuming and expensive; gold was added to the composition of the light-reflecting substance. The cost of products was extremely high - only very wealthy people could afford to have a mirror in the house. In payment for one such product, both the estate and the sea vessel were given. It is interesting that it was much cheaper to order your own portrait from a brilliant master - this, in fact, was done by those who wanted to always have their “reflection” at hand.

In the 16th century, craftsmen from the island of Murano first created a flat mirror - by cutting a still hot glass cylinder and rolling the halves on copper plates. Mirrors are clean and shiny. The invention was appreciated in France - there it literally came to court, the royal family became the main customer for mirrors, and in 1665 the first own manufactory was opened in the country.

Thanks to the development of mirror production, it became possible to paint self-portraits, which gave posterity an idea of ​​the appearance of the painters of the past. Yes, and in their work, the masters used the capabilities of mirrors - Leonardo da Vinci advised artists to look at the reflection of their work in order to assess its authenticity and harmony.

The painting by Rubens demonstrates the Venus effect, popular in art, when a person in front of a mirror looks not at his own reflection, but at the viewer

Later, liquid glass was poured directly onto a reflective surface and rolled out, and in 1835 the German chemist Justus von Liebig invented the silver sputtering method, a technology still used today. It is difficult to overestimate the practical importance of the mirror in the modern world - it is used in almost all areas of human activity. However, the magical, otherworldly nature of the object, which allows you to look into another world, through the looking glass, still remains one of the main features of mirrors.

A. Steenwinkel. "Double self-portrait"

A modern person, even if he does not believe in the myths of the past, still reads about the Mirror of Einalej in the Harry Potter saga, believes in numerous signs associated with mirrors, performs ancient rituals - for example, look into a home mirror, returning from the road for a forgotten thing.
Despite all the accumulated knowledge, the centuries-old culture of mankind suggests that it is better to treat the looking glass with caution and respect - as civilizations of the past did.

E. Manet. "Bar at the Folies Bergère"

The painting "Bar at the Folies Bergère" is one of those that make the viewer - the mysterious reflection in the mirror is to blame.

The age of the most ancient mirrors on earth is about seven thousand years. Before the invention of mirror glass, stone and metal were used: gold, silver, bronze, tin, copper, rock crystal.

Medusa Gorgon turned to stone when she saw her image in the shield of Perseus polished to a shine. Archaeologists believe that the earliest mirrors are polished pieces of obsidian found in Turkey,

dating back 7500 years. However, none of the ancient mirrors could, for example, look at oneself from behind or distinguish shades of color.

One of the Greek myths tells of Narcissus, who lay for hours on the shore of the lake, admiring his reflection in the water. If Narcissus were a wealthy man, he would probably have bought himself a polished metal mirror. In those days, it was not so easy to bring a piece of steel or bronze the size of a palm to a mirror shine. In addition, the surface of such a mirror oxidized and had to be cleaned daily. The Latin spektrum in German has become Spiegel ("Spiegel" - a mirror). From which we can conclude that the Romans brought mirrors to Germany.

The invention of the real mirror can be traced back to 1279, when the Franciscan John Pecamum described a way to cover glass with a thin layer of lead.

The first manufacturers of mirrors were the Venetians. The technology was quite complicated at that time: a thin layer of tin foil was superimposed on paper, which on the other hand was covered with mercury, paper was again laid over the mercury, and only then glass was applied on top, which pressed this puff cake, and meanwhile paper was pulled out of it. Of course, such a mirror was very cloudy - and yet it reflected more light than it absorbed. This process remained, with minor changes, until 1835, when the German professor Justus von Liebig discovered that by using silver, much clearer and more brilliant mirrors could be obtained.

The Doge's Republic jealously guarded its monopoly. In 1454, she issued an order forbidding mirror-makers to leave the country, and for those who had already done so, commanding them to return home. "Defectors" were threatened with punishments against their relatives. Killers were sent in the wake of particularly stubborn fugitives. As a result, the mirror remained an incredibly rare and fantastically expensive commodity for three centuries.

Louis XIV was literally obsessed with mirrors. It was during his time that the firm "Saint-Gobain" unraveled the secret of Venetian production, after which prices fell sharply. Mirrors began to appear on the walls of private houses, in picture frames. In the 18th century, two-thirds of Parisians already acquired them. In addition, ladies began to wear small mirrors on their belts, attached with chains.

Given how late the glass mirror appeared in the history of mankind, one cannot but arouse astonishment how huge a role it plays in superstitions and in popular culture in general. Already in the Middle Ages, in the verdict of a French witch, among the list of her magical devices, there is also a fragment of a mirror. With the help of a mirror, Russian girls guessed at the groom. The mirror, as it were, opened up the space of the otherworldly, it both beckoned and frightened, so they treated it cautiously: sometimes they hung curtains, sometimes they brought a cat, sometimes they turned away to the wall, and sometimes they broke it.