HLF has played a central role having contributed over half the funding.  This has enabled work to take place on the cathedral’s 600-year-old East Front and Great East Window.  The latter is the largest single expanse of medieval stained glass in the country.

A new state-of the-art visitor attraction, Revealing York Minster in the Undercroft, is up and running. A significant amount of investment has gone in stonemason and glazier apprenticeships, the development of an adult learning programme and outreach work to engage with new communities.

Carole Souter, Chief Executive of HLF, said: “Today we’re celebrating the achievements of the York Minster team: a wide-ranging group of skilled people, from stonemasons and glaziers to curators and learning specialists, who have both restored and opened up one of our finest cathedrals.  I hope National Lottery players will be proud of what their contribution has achieved; our thanks go to them and the many supporters of this great project.”

[quote=The Very Reverend Vivienne Faull, the Dean of York]“The project has enabled us to become more outward facing and forge new relationships across the region.”[/quote]

York Minster fast facts

• The work to conserve and restore York Minster’s East Front and Great East Window is one of the largest projects of its kind in Europe

• For nearly 12 years, the cathedral’s East Front has been covered in around 16 miles of scaffolding, while nearly 2,500 stones have been cut or repaired by York Minster’s stonemasons

• The window’s conservation made use of a revolutionary new UV resistant glass in its external protective glazing. The Minster is the first building in the UK to make use of this new technology
• The 157 stained glass panels from the Great East Window have been completed and returned to the window. The remaining 154 panels are currently being conserved and restored by York Glaziers Trust and will be returned to the window in early 2018
• The project has transformed the lives and career prospects of 11 young people by creating apprenticeships in stonemasonry and stained glass conservation

The Very Reverend Vivienne Faull, the Dean of York, said: “As well as helping to transform the experience of visiting the cathedral, the project has enabled us to become more outward facing and forge new relationships across the region, and it is these relationships which will help us to continue to develop York Minster for the future.”

Find out more on the York Minster website.