A decade after it began, the restoration and reinstallation of the Great East Window of York Minster is complete. The window was design by master glazier John Thornton of Coventry in the first decade of the 15th century. It only took him and the gifted assistants in his workshop three years, from 1405 until 1408, to design, cut and execute the sweeping, majestic richly colored vista of Biblical scenes from the Creation of the world in Genesis to the end of it in the Book of Revelation. He was paid £56 by the Chapter of York for this masterpiece.
Composed of 311 individual panes, the Great East Window is the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the UK. Experts believe it also the largest depiction of the Apocalypse in the world. It survived German bombs in World War II, something Thornton’s windows in Coventry Cathedral were unable to do because while they were taken down for their protection and technically made it through the Blitz, they were stored haphazardly with no references whatsoever to their original configuration and so could not be pieced back together.
The window panes were last conserved after World War II, so a thorough refurbishment was very much in order. The Great East Window conservation became a key component of the York Minster Revealed project. In 2008, the experts at the York Glaziers Trust dismantled the window, taking down all 311 panels and removing them to their restoration lab. For five years, every individual piece of glass, large or small, was painstakingly studied, cleaned, conserved and examined in the Bedern Glaziers Studio where visitors could see the conservation team at work. Broken pieces and ones misplaced in previous conservation efforts were fixed. The latest and greatest protective coating was applied to keep the newly refreshed colors from fading or suffering damage from UV rays.
The cost of the restoration was £11.5 million, much of it contributed by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Between 2011 and 2017, conservators spent a cumulative 92,400 hours working to repair and protect the window for future generations. Halfway through, in 2015, the first half of the restored glass panels (157 of them) were returned to the window. Visitors could see the revived color in situ again. Gradually the other 154 panels were returned to their original locations in the Tracery and Old Testament areas.
The last of the 311 panes was installed on Tuesday, January 2nd, ushering in a very auspicious New Year. It was money and time very well-spent. The revived Great East Window is so pristine and vivid now it’s much easier to follow the complexity of the Biblical narrative, and the pioneering use of technology will be a template for future glazing restorations at York Minster and beyond.
Sarah Brown, Director at York Glaziers Trust, said: “This has been a once in a lifetime project for the team and it’s a huge privilege to be part of this milestone in the Minster’s history.
“The Great East Window is one of the great artistic achievements of the Middle Ages, a stunning expanse of stained glass of unparalleled size and beauty in Britain. The work undertaken as part of this project will ensure this masterpiece is preserved for hundreds of years to come.”
The Dean of York, The Very Reverend Vivienne Faull, added: “It’s a triumph to have the Great East Window complete once again and we look forward to seeing it in all its glory when the scaffolding is removed and the project formally completed in the spring.
“Its completion marks the start of a multi-million pound campaign in partnership with the York Minster Fund and the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to provide state-of-the-art protective glazing to all 128 of our medieval stained glass windows.
“It will take us 20 years to achieve this but the environmental protection will stop the corrosion and decay caused by the glass being exposed to the elements, buying us much needed time for vital conservation work which will preserve the irreplaceable windows for generations to come.”
The glass panels have all been returned to the Great East Window but there's still lots to be done at the East End to get it game-ready.
We'll keep you up to date on how things are looking ahead of the big reveal later in the year! #BehindTheScenes pic.twitter.com/fXKDwWkXkb— York Minster (@York_Minster) January 5, 2018
Big start to the New Year for a big project! After 10 years, 311 panels & an average of 500 hours spent on each – the FINAL panel of the Great East Window is installed!
Well done to @yorkglaziers on a fantastic job 👏 pic.twitter.com/TmiNOR846I— York Minster (@York_Minster) January 2, 2018
Needless to say York is amazing! But why would the window panes have to be restored again, if they were last restored as recently as post-World War II? Weather? Vandalism? Old age? Will the 15th century Creations scenes be restored to the originals, as far as possible?
How did they come to survive the Puritans?
Cromwell didn’t think there was anything in York worth the trouble of conquering?
I don’t know that Cromwell was a vandal but some Puritans took the opportunity for vandalism. They were the same sort of people as those delightful folks in Massachusetts who executed Quakers and witches.
And ruined Morton’s year-long party with the locals out in Merry Mount.
What was that old definition of Puritanism they used to teach us? Something along the the line of, “Puritanism is based on the fear that somewhere out there, someone might be having fun.”?
It’s why I’m glad my ancestors went to Virginia.
“Those Puritanists will close all theaters, lace handkerchiefs for men will be illegal, and I won’t have a friendly face to sit on this side of Boulogne!!!”