Wednesday

Today I went to the library in the morning, then I tried to visit St Mary's Bishophill Jr., which was supposed to be open from 12-2, but when I got there the door was locked and it said you could call a number if you wanted to get in. I didn't feel like waiting around for someone to come let me in, so I decided to walk to the Rowntree Park and the Millennium Bridge that Dad had found towards the end of his stay. It was a pleasant walk. After I got back to town I went right to the Minster for the Bedern Gaziers Studio Tour at 2:00. The tour explained the conservation process for the East Window, the one they say is the size of a tennis court and the biggest medieval stained glass window that survives in England. In 2008 they took the entire window out and they work panel by panel, making a rubbing of it to record how it was, carefully taking out the old built-up lead between the pieces, cleaning the glass, going through a process to decided if and how anything should be replaced or enhanced, and then using some lead and some super adhesives to put the panel back together. The end result is a clearer image and a lighter window panel, because there is less lead. They also are doing their best to undo any changes made in previous restorations, in hopes of restoring the panels to a more original state using detailed descriptions of the windows made by a glass enthusiast in the 1690's. It was an excellent tour. We got to see some of the conservationists working on panels and they explained what stage of the process they were in. Pictures weren't allowed though, so the above description will have to do.