Completion of the Conservation of Phase I of York Minster's Great East Window

On 31 March 2016 the York Glaziers Trust celebrated with all the teams at York Minster the delivery of the York Minster Revealed project, on time and on budget. The YMR project, sponsored by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the York Minster Fund, started in 2011 as a £20 million investment to restore and conserve the stone and glass of the Minster’s majestic East End. In addition, new visitor attractions have enhanced the project, including the state of the art Revealing York Minster in the Undercroft and the new piazza, and number of trainees have benefited in traditional craft and conservation skills. YGT’s main role in the project has been the conservation of 'phase one' of the Great East Window, encompassing the Apocalypse cycle of panels and the upper part of the tracery and including the provision of a state of the art ultra violet light inhibiting environmental protective glazing system. Now, clear of scaffolding for the first time in ten years, the magnificence of the architecture and glass truly is revealed as one of the wonders of medieval art and craftsmanship. On a glorious sunny day the Very Reverend Vivienne Faull, the Dean of York Minster led a topping out ceremony (with beer and commemorative glasses courtesy of Timothy Taylors Brewery) on St William’s College Green beneath the East End with the remarkable people who have made the project such a great success. YGT are now working on phase two of the conservation project, which will see the remaining panels of the Great East Window re-installed by the beginning of 2018.