Stained glass

In our latest post about the Collections in the University Library, Ilka Heale introduces a recently donated collection of books.

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After seven years of being cloaked in scaffolding, the fully restored stained glass in York Minster's Great East Window is now revealed. The preservation work involved dismantling the panels and cleaning each individual piece of glass and was done by York Glaziers Trust.

A restored panel from the East Window.
Photo by virtusincertus used under a
Creative Commons license.

It is the biggest medieval stained glass window in Europe, measuring 24 metres tall with 311 panes of stained glass. John Thornton, a glazier from Coventry, came to York to begin work on the window in 1405. He finished three years later, receiving a £10 bonus to his £56 fee for completing the work on time.

The University Library has recently added a collection of books to the catalogue about stained glass. Donated by Peter Gibson, York Glaziers Trust first secretary and superintendent. He supervised the preservation work on the Rose Window after the 1984 fire in the Minster's south transept.

Stained glass. Photograph by Paul Shields.

The collection covers books on stained glass techniques along with examples of stained glass and architecture. The books expand an already large collection of related books and images in the Library. For further details, please search for 'stained glass' in YorSearch (the Library catalogue) or search the shelves at LB 9.85.

The York Digital Library contains many images of stained glass, including a series of chromolithographs depicting windows from the Mariahilfkirche in Munich, on the theme of the life of the Virgin Mary.

Restoring stained glass. Photograph by Paul Shields.