£11m bid to protect York Minster's 128 stained glass windows from decay

Monika Adamczak from York Glaziers restores Isaac Blessing Jacob on a stained glass window at York Minster. Credit: PA

An £11million fundraising campaign has been launched to protect York Minster's 128 stained glass windows.

The cathedral, which holds the largest collection of medieval stained glass in the country, has secured a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of up to £1m an is seeking public donations towards the cost of specialist protective glazing.

Seventy four of the windows currently have no protection, leaving them vulnerable to decay.

The Very Reverend Vivienne Faull, the Dean of York, said: “Currently almost 60 per cent of this precious and irreplaceable glass has no external protection from the environment, which means that moisture in the air is causing damage to our windows faster than we can conserve them.

“Condensation which builds up on the glass causes it to corrode and the paint to deteriorate and flake away. We’re therefore in a race against time to protect these irreplaceable works of art for future generations.”.