York Minster, Anglican cathedral in York, England
York Minster is a Gothic cathedral of pale magnesian limestone, 175 metres long, with a nave 35 metres wide and 32 metres high; the central tower and the two west towers reach 65 metres. Its three-aisled nave, transepts and choir combine Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular work, and the nave has a wooden roof renewed in 1890.
Construction started in 1220 and continued for several centuries, with the transept built first. The chapter house and nave followed later, while the great eastern facade with its enormous window was completed only in the early 15th century.
The word "minster" comes from the Anglo-Saxon term for a missionary teaching church, not from a Roman headquarters. The stone screen closing the nave toward the choir, carved around 1420, carries life-size figures of fifteen English kings; the fifteenth, Henry VI, was added after his father died in 1422, leaving the row asymmetrical.
The entrance stands at the western front, from where you enter the nave and move eastward through the building. Visitors who wish to climb the roof or towers should be prepared for steep steps and narrow spiral staircases.
In the north transept five narrow lancet windows stand side by side, each rising over 16 meters and displaying geometric patterns. This group is known as the Five Sisters Window and ranks among the oldest surviving glasswork in the building.
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