Mather & Co works on York Minster restoration

Mather & Co is working on interventions into York Minster cathedral as part of a five-year, £10.5m Heritage Lottery Fund project, York Minster Revealed.

The project aims to display the architectural and cultural significance of the cathedral, carry out conservation and restoration work and call upon traditional crafts including stone masonry and stained glass preservation.

The consultancy, appointed through a tender in 2010, has been brought in to interpret the East Front of the Minster, including the stained glass Medieval Great East Window – believed to be one of the largest in existence.

As the window is being restored, pieces of new glass will be housed at the foot of the window in a white elliptical ‘contemporary orb structure’ for visitors to step into.

Outside of this, touch screen, interactives and graphic elements will be integrated to tell stories of the building’s stone masonry and glazing.

A second phase, scheduled for completion by Spring 2013, will see the undercroft, treasury and crypt reimagined.

The undercroft – currently inaccessible to non-able bodied visitors – will have a new lift and ramp designed by cathedral architect Aroll and Snell.

Mather & Co will tell the stories of archaeological remains found when the undercroft was dug out to shore up the building.

Mather & Co designer Paul Lee says, ‘We’ll interpret the archaeology through themed chambers looking at  Roman Emperor Constantine, the Saxon church and the Norman minster.’

The treasury and crypt will be given ‘a lighter touch’ again with a thematic approach, using ‘integrated media and short video film pieces’ alongside artifacts ‘to animate them, and show that they have a function and are not just objects of beauty’.