York Minster

Students first see the cathedral:

The Screen:

The heart window:

The choir rehearses:

We visited our seventh cathedral, York Minster, which was far enough north from the enthusiasts of the Dissolution and the Reformation that much of its stained glass survived. Original Gothic glass is geometric, non-representational, in mostly greens and grays--I can't figure out how the glass matches the high stone buildings themselves, and the meek, stilted poses of the statues. My favorite glass is probably the Victorian, which tells you how hopelessly uncool I am. Modern glass is usually very striking. There's quite a bit done since the German bombing, and as people are less religious in general there's less objection to "high church" stained glass in the Anglican buildings. Christopher [age four] liked York Minster because there was a spiral staircase in a tower (his main requirement for castles and cathedrals) and we could look off the top. (1997)