Friday, March 11
Friday was our last night on the road and also our busiest day. We traveled from Edinburgh, Scotland down through York and on to Stratford upon Avon. That made for a lot of time in the bus and a very hurried stop in York--which was a shame because York is a beautiful city that still has a lot of medieval elements. We spent most of our time in York touring York Minster--the city's cathedral.
York Minster is a gothic cathedral, which means it resembles Westminster Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral. It was built over a period of about 250 years (good grief, can you imagine anyone today sticking with a project that long?). It's one of the few cathedrals that uses wood for much of its roofing material. That gives the church a sense of lightness, but it also means it is susceptible to fire--there have been three major ones in its history.
One of the things that York is known for is the stained glass. A lot of medieval stained glass was destroyed during the post-Reformation period and during Cromwell's Puritan era. It was seen as being "too Catholic" and somewhat idolatrous. York's stained glass was saved during that time, though, because a local leader was part of the army that captured York for the Puritans--and he ordered that the city be left alone.
One thing I learned about stained glass is that it has to be repaired a lot. Every 150 years or so, it has to be removed and redone or else it would crack up. Even as it is, it develops a lot of cracking.
The first picture here shows the old method of fixing the glass--adding lead. It worked, but created a lot of black lines that separate the picture. The new method works much better in terms of preserving the look and beauty of the glass. It's seen in the next picture. The method? Super glue.
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| Looking over the reader's lectern at the quire (choir) |
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| How to do it justice with a camera? |
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| Looking down the river from the bridge into the city center |
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| The old city wall--dating from around 1200-1400 |
York Minster is a gothic cathedral, which means it resembles Westminster Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral. It was built over a period of about 250 years (good grief, can you imagine anyone today sticking with a project that long?). It's one of the few cathedrals that uses wood for much of its roofing material. That gives the church a sense of lightness, but it also means it is susceptible to fire--there have been three major ones in its history.
The first picture here shows the old method of fixing the glass--adding lead. It worked, but created a lot of black lines that separate the picture. The new method works much better in terms of preserving the look and beauty of the glass. It's seen in the next picture. The method? Super glue.
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