York Museum’s Trust has a collection of over 400 pieces of stained glass, ranging in date from the 12th-20th centuries and comes from Yorkshire, across England, as well as Germany, the Netherlands and France.

Much of the glass was acquired in the 1880s by the founders of the museum, the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, from local collectors, and more than 60 pieces were put on display in the Hospitium in the Museum Gardens from the 1890s. By the 1940s most of it had been put into storage with just a small amount put back out on display from the late 1980s.

Following a successful partnership with the University of York and the research students of the MA course in Stained Glass Conservation in 2009-2010 much of this stained glass was conserved, remounted, and researched. We hope this successful partnership will continue and help us display more glass in the years to come and special thanks are due to Jasmine Allen, for her work on the catalogue.

The current medieval exhibition ‘Medieval York: Capital of the North’ includes two lightboxes showcasing two incredible pieces of Medieval stained glass; a coloured roundel depicting a King, and a series of lozenge–shaped quarries each depicting a different bird. The remainder of the stained glass is currently in storage, though is available to researchers on request.

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