On July 20th, York Glaziers Trust (YGT) celebrated 50 years of conserving and caring for York Minster’s world-famous stained glass, as well as historic stained glass from across the UK.
Over the last half-century, YGT has played a key role in a number of (sometimes dramatic) events in the Minster’s history, including overseeing the return of the Great West Window to the cathedral in 1967, after wartime storage; and saving the South Transept Rose Window after it was almost lost to a fire in the Minster in 1984. More recently, the Trust has played a central role in demonstrating the potential of modern conservation techniques in its revolutionary treatment of the St William Window, in the cathedral choir, between 1998 and 2007; followed by the conservation and restoration of the Great East Window, the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the country, as part of the York Minster Revealed project.
The importance of YGT’s work, its talented conservators and glaziers, has long been noted by Vidimus. A four-part history of the Trust can be found in issues 12, 13, 14 and 16.