Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Stained glass commission tests skills to the limit
Stained glass experts at Canterbury Cathedral have just finished work on a magnificent 19ft-high window for a church in Dallas.
It has taken two years and is described as one of the most challenging commissions undertaken by the studio.
Cathedral visitors will have the chance to see the medievalstyle window before it is flown to Texas.
Designed on the Redemption window in the Cathedral Corona, it goes on display in the Crypt on Saturday afternoon for almost three weeks.
Commissions are undertaken by the stained class studio to offset the cost of conserving the Cathedral’s own historic glass. But the Dallas project tested even the most experienced Canterbury conservators.
Studio director Leonie Seliger explained: “It was important that the design should pay homage to the original stained glass of Canterbury Cathedral.
“This was a massive undertaking because the windows here were produced by the greatest stained glass artists of the time, so to replicate their work would require an incredible amount of talent and skill.
“We wanted to make sure it would be as true to the original as possible, not only in the design but in the iconography and stories.”
Such was the level of detail, that glass blowers, now using the latest high-tech techniques, were asked to “unrefine” the process to create imperfections to recreate the look of medieval glass.
The window is on show in the Crypt until February 22, which is usually open 10am to 17.30pm, Monday to Saturday, and 12.30pm to 14.30pm on Sundays.