Mirrors are usually made of glass, which has a reflective coating. They are used not only in everyday life, but also in production, and are an important component of many scientific instruments, such as telescopes, industrial equipment, video cameras and lasers. People first saw their reflection in puddles of water, streams, river surface, which became the first mirrors - thus began their long history.
Mirror History of the Ancient World
The earliest artificial mirrors were polished black volcanic glassy stone - obsidian - which was processed in the shape of a circle. Some specimens of such mirrors have been found in Turkey. Their age is attributed to 6000 BC.
In which country did they invent the mirror? The earliest man-made reflectors in the form of pieces of polished obsidian were found in Anatolia - modern Turkey. The ancient Egyptians used polished copper to make mirrors; the reverse side was decorated with ornaments. The ancient inhabitants of Mesopotamia also made polished metal mirrors, and reflective surfaces of polished stone appeared in Central and South America about two thousand years BC. e. Entire civilizations have taken part in the process of the appearance of this common thing today.
Where did they invent the mirror? In which country? It is believed that made with a metal back with glass, they first appeared in Lebanese Sidon in the first century AD. The first glass mirrors were made in the 1st year of our era by the Romans - from blown glass with lead substrates. Glass reflectors were first made in the third century AD.
The invention of the method of blowing glass in the 14th century led to the discovery of convex mirrors, which further increased their popularity.
Stone Mirrors of Central America
This accessory was considered one of the most important religious artifacts in the famous culture of Central America. In which country did they invent the mirror? Over the centuries and millennia, the cultures of Central America and Mesoamerica have acquired specific traditions and religious rites regarding reflective surfaces. One of the most common beliefs practiced by the Mayans, Aztecs, and Tarasco is the belief that mirrors serve as portals for interacting with gods and otherworldly forces.
This ancient tradition of early beliefs still considers any smooth surface of water to be a powerful divination tool. Mirrors created in Mesoamerica at that time were first made from a single piece of iron ore, which was polished to a high degree of reflectivity. Later, other materials and larger and more complex products appeared. One of the most popular examples of classical Mesoamerican culture is mosaic pyrite mirrors, which were widely used in the famous city of Teotihuacan.
China: bronze mirrors
Where did they invent the mirror? In which country? To answer this question is definitely quite difficult. The history of the mirror covers the last 8000 years of modern development, but one of the most important representatives of this accessory so familiar today was the Chinese bronze reflectors, the first appearance of which dates back to 2900 BC. e.
In which country did they invent the mirror? In China, reflectors were made from metal alloys, a mixture of tin and copper, called mirror metal, which was highly polished and had an excellent reflective surface, as well as polished bronze. Reflectors made of metal alloys or precious metals were considered very valuable objects in antiquity and were available only to very wealthy people.
But the Egyptians quickly switched from bronze to other materials - this is a polished obsidian, used in 4000 BC. e., polished selenite, as well as various alloys of copper. China began producing mirrors using mercury amalgam back in 500 AD, but at the same time continued to improve the art of creating bronze products. They remained in use until the XVII-XIX centuries, when Western travelers brought modern mirrors to the country.
Mirror luxury of Venice
In the medieval period, glass mirrors completely disappeared. In those days, religious denominations announced that the devil was looking at the world from the opposite side of a reflective surface. Poor fashionistas had to use polished metal surfaces or replace them with special water bowls. Glass mirrors returned only in the 13th century. It was then that in Holland appeared artisanal technology for the manufacture of these products. Then - in Flanders and German Nuremberg, where in 1373 the first workshop for the manufacture of such mirrors was organized.
Where did they invent the mirror? In which country? You won’t say so right away. Using available technologies, glassmakers poured hot tin into glass baths, and then, when the tin cooled down, they divided it into separate pieces. John Pekam, a member of the Franciscan order, described this method in 1279, but who invented such a mirror - history is unlikely to remember. The Venetian masters came up with the “flat mirror technique” only three centuries later. They found a way to attach tin to a flat glass surface. In 1407, the Venetians, the Danzalo del Gallo brothers, bought a patent from the Flemish craftsmen, and Venice held a monopoly on the production of excellent Venetian mirrors for a century and a half. In addition, the masters themselves have created a special reflective mixture in which gold and bronze were added. Because of it, all the objects reflected in the mirrors looked much more beautiful than in reality. The cost of one Venetian mirror was then comparable to the cost of a large warship. During the Renaissance in Europe, reflectors were made by coating glass with tin and a mercury amalgam. In the sixteenth century, Venice became the center of production for such mirrors. A factory for their manufacture, called Saint-Gobain, was also created in France.
About mirrors and mysticism in Russia
In Russia, mirrors were considered a diabolical invention. In 1666, the Orthodox Church banned their use by priests. Since that time, many superstitions regarding mirrors have appeared. Today, many of them seem ridiculous and naive to us, but people took this very seriously. A broken mirror, for example, was a sign of bad luck for seven years. That is why the person who broke or broke it first apologized for the clumsiness, and then had to bury the fragments according to all the rituals. Talismans used to reflect death. It used to be common practice to cover all reflective surfaces when someone in the house died. It was believed that this would not allow the soul of the deceased to be trapped in one of the mirrors, the devil.
The first reflective devices in Germany
In the city of Nuremberg (Germany) in 1373 the first mirror factory was opened. And these accessories began to be actively used in all areas of life. And in the XVI century, mirrors become part of mystical rituals and mysterious witchcraft.
Who invented the mirror? Country: Germany? in 1835, Justus von Liebig, a German chemist, developed silver-plated glass reflectors, where a thin metal layer was applied to glass by chemical reduction of silver nitrate. This invention made it possible to produce such products on a much larger scale, and for the first time in history ordinary people could buy a mirror. In which country did they invent the mirror? Wikipedia tells only about the facts of history. We can only compare.
Secret application
For two centuries, the property of reflexivity was used by spies from Spain and France to encode and decrypt confidential messages. This secret coding system was invented in the 15th century by Leonardo da Vinci. The scriptures were encoded in “mirror image”, so without such a surface it was impossible to read the message. Mirrors were part of another great invention of the time - the periscope. The ability to quietly keep an eye on the enemy through a system of interacting reflective lenses saved lives in wartime. In the Thirty Years' War, mirrors were used to blind the enemy during the fighting by intense reflection of sunlight. It was very difficult to aim when eyes were blinded by thousands of tiny reflectors.
Mirrors made a long journey throughout history. Today you cannot find a home without this simple item. They have long become part of the daily routine, often underestimated. We must always respect the historical development of mirrors and appreciate the incredible aesthetic value of our reflection.