The launch of Sarah Brown’s eagerly anticipated new volume Apocalypse: The Great East Window of York Minster [Fig. 1] took place earlier this month, with a large turnout attending the event held in York Minster’s north transept [Fig. 2].
Fig.1. The book cover
Stained glass enthusiasts, the staff of York Glaziers Trust, lecturers from the University of York, and members of the larger Minster community were amongst those gathered to celebrate publication of the book, which explores the history of the Great East Window from its creation in 1405 to the conservation that commenced 600 years later, beginning in 2005.
Julian Platt, chairman of the book’s publisher, Third Millennium, spoke about the conception and production of the lavishly illustrated book, thanking those involved and praising the quality of the writing and the photographs, while Dean Vivienne Faul noted the support of the York Chapter in bringing the York Minster Revealed project to fruition. Sarah Brown, the author, described the background of the window and stressed the collaborative nature of the conservation project and the book, and thanked the York Minster Fund for its support, but above all, the creator of the window, John Thornton.
Apocalypse reproduces the entire cycle in colour for the first time, and examines the making, history, meaning and conservation of the window. It also contains a chapter contributed by theologian Paula Gooder on the interpretation of the Apocalypse.
The book is available for purchase online now from the Third Millennium website.
Fig. 2. The launch
Sarah Brown is Director of the York Glaziers Trust, a lecturer in history of art at the University of York, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and chairman of the British Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi. She is currently overseeing the conservation of York Minster’s Great East Window as part of the York Minster Revealed, a conservation and interpretation project made possible by generous funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
