Stain glass is an art form in which colored glass is cut into shapes and placed into amosaic to form a picture. The glass is held in place by metal strips soldered together to gives the stained glass strength and stability. Stained glass is most commonly seen in church windows, where it typically depicts saints or scenes from the Bible, butstained glass windowsdo not necessarily have to depict a scene at all. They can simply be a brightly colored geometric design. The famousRose Windowof Notre Dame is made up of many small pictures that together form a geometric pattern, which creates the overall impression - one must study the window in detail to see that it is indeed a collection of small pictures. The Rose Window's name refers not to the scenes themselves but to the wooden or stone structure that supports the glass, which is radial and composed of many small, petal-like openings into which the glass is set. Often, fine details of the scene are painted on the colored glass, which is then heated to bond the paint to the glass, and thereby 'stained'.