CANDLE WALL SCONCES
Every since the discovery of fire, man has attempted to harness the power of flame to provide heat and light. As “technology” progressed, fire became portable. Used to light the interior of caves and dark natural corridors in dense woods, portable fire was hazardous and unpredictable.
Capturing Fire
Eventually, the fire was contained, usually in glass and handheld candle sconces were used to light the way for everyone from monks in the inner corridors of monasteries to miners deep underground.
Designers caught up with the practical application and began to develop ornate fixtures to hold the fire. Gothic cathedrals and royal castles soon became decorated with ornate exterior candle wall sconces.
The more elaborate the structures they were placed on the more elaborate the sconces became. Often iron was the metal of choice of the design of candle wall sconces, especially the ones that were mounted on exterior walls.
The display of light is often associated with religion. It is nearly impossible to find a place of worship where candles are not only a source of light, but often are used in the practice of worship and as a metaphor for the seeing that spirituality offers.
Religious Uses
One of the most recognizable religious symbols that make use of the candlelight is the Jewish menorah. The quote below from Chabad.org discusses the symbolism of light and especially candlelight:
“The symbolic meaning of light as an expression of the positive aspect of reality is not confined only to the realm of language. It is realized also in the use of light and lamps as concrete means of expression, which symbolize and point to an essence that contains holiness, in all its different appearances in reality: in holiness and at the Holy Temple in the sanctity of place; in the Sabbath and festivals in the sanctity of time; on special occasions in the sanctity and importance of the event.
The Temple menorah, with all of its ornate and extremely elaborate craftsmanship, was not there for any practical purpose: it stood in the Heichal, a windowless hall only seldom frequented by people. Yet it was there as a symbol of the holiness of that place, of its relation to light. This menorah — “the sun’s sphere” (Jerusalem Talmud, end of Chagigah) — is a sphere of sunlight, which shines through the walls and the curtains.
No wonder, then, that this meaning of the Temple menorah was conceived by the Jewish people as the symbol par excellence of Jewish existence, as can be seen in Jewish ornaments from all periods from synagogue mosaics in the Galilee to ornaments on utensils in the Roman catacombs, and even, in a sense, to the synagogue itself the place where an eternal candle burns day and night.”
Modern candle wall sconces can be made of an assortment of material and are just as often used to accent a work of art as they are used to give ambient light. The beauty and the history of candle wall sconce contribute the romantic and reverent aura that rooms lit in this manner convey.