Medieval stained glass in the north nave aisle of York Minster. Most of the nave windows preserve their original 14th century glass, though some scenes are patched and confused visually by the many repairs that have been required over the centuries. Most windows follow the format of two rows of three scenes set within plainer areas of quarries and rich borders.
York Minster is England’s largest medieval cathedral and almost impossible to do justice to. It has an awesome presence that cannot fail to impress.
Uniquely the cathedral was spared the ravages of the Civil War that decimated the medieval art of most English cathedrals and churches, and it thus possesses the largest collection of medieval glass in Britain throughout most of it’s vast windows.
Sadly this fortune was not matched by the Minster’s vulnerability to fire which has ravaged the building in 3 major outbreaks, the worst in 1829 when a madman set fire to the precious medieval furniture of the choir, which was destroyed along with the organ and the high vaulted ceiling of the eastern half of the church. Only 11 years after this tragedy a careless workman accidentally set fire to the nave roof, which also lost it’s vault. Both roofs were rebuilt in replica, but a further fire caused by lightning strike in 1984 destroyed the south transept roof (rebuilt 4 years later).
Most medieval cathedrals were provided with stone vaulted ceilings precisely to avoid the problems suffered here, but York’s builders found that building on such an unprecedentedly large scale brought limitations, thus all the Minster’s high ceilings had to be built of wood in imitation of stone. An Achilles’ Heel, but a beautiful one!
Posted by Aidan McRae Thomson on 2014-11-18 18:31:32
Tagged: , York , Minster , cathedral , Yorkshire , stained glass , window , medieval , gothic
