(Photo provided by York Minister)
LONDON, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- It is the size of a tennis court, and at 24 meters in height, the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world.
And after seven years, and costing more than 35 million U.S. dollars, York Minister Saturday announced a restoration project on its Great East Window has finally been completed.
The minister, as well as being a place of worship, is one of Britain's major attractions for tourists from around the world, with about a million visitors a year.
The work on the window is the first phase of an extensive program to renovate the East Front of the Gothic cathedral, with work scheduled to last until 2018.
In the early 15th century, Master Glazier John Thornton of Coventry spent almost four years creating his masterpiece, receiving a fee of 56 pounds (87 U.S. dollars) when the job was finished in 1408.
(Photo provided by York Minister)
A spokesman at York Minister explained: "The window, with more than 300 panes, is a work of immense ambition, depicting the beginning and end of all things, from the creation of the world as described in the book of Genesis, to the events that will presage the end of the world and the second coming of Christ as told in the visionary Book of Revelation, known in the Middle Ages as the Apocalypse."
York Minster is the first building in Britain to use a revolutionary protective ventilated glazing system, made with an innovative UV-resistant glass manufactured by the world-famous Glasshutte Lamberts of Germany.
It has provided state-of-the-art environmental protection for the medieval stained glass, secure the future of the 600-year-old stained-glass for many generations to come.
The restoration work has been carried out by highly trained craftspeople from York Glaziers Trust, an organization established in the Yorkshire city mainly to care for the minster's many windows.
The trust works closely with the University of York, the center of stained glass scholarship in Great Britain.
The trust's Nick Teed, who has led the team of specialist glaziers, said every single piece of stained glass had to be carefully removed, cleaned, archived and then replaced.
He said the team has to undo mistakes made during previous repair work going back many years.
(Photo provided by York Minister)
A church on the site dates back to around 600, and over the centuries it has been invaded, destroyed, rebuilt and was finally declared as completed in 1472. In 1984 the building was struck by lightning during a thunder storm, with repair damage costing nearly 4 million U.S. dollars.
