York Minster’s iconic Rose Window, which has a history stretching back many hundreds of years, requires urgent attention to ensure that this masterpiece is preserved for many generations to come.
Without urgent investment, the Rose Window is at major risk of being lost forever.
By supporting this project, you are not only preserving an ancient masterpiece but also ensuring that future generations can experience its magnificent beauty.
What is the problem?
The Rose Window, created in the early 16th century to celebrate the marriage of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, is the Minster’s most famous and iconic window.
In the devastating 1984 fire, the Rose suffered 40,000 cracks across its 73 panels. The York Glaziers Trust’s astonishing work, including applying adhesive to each of the 40,000 cracks, saw it successfully restored four years later.
An up-close investigation into the window’s condition in 2025 – the first in forty years – found significant deterioration to the 1980s repairs.
Analysis shows that the window reaches 40°C in hot weather, and increasingly extreme heat and rainfall due to climate change are accelerating deterioration. As a result:
- There is visible degradation to the adhesives that hold the cracks together
- These cracks are likely to come apart in the next five years without intervention
- At least 30% of the load-bearing stonework around the Rose Window is in decay
Urgent work is now required to save the window before it deteriorates further.
What is the solution?
Extraordinary measures are necessary, given the complex nature of the Rose Window’s damage from the 1984 fire and its vulnerable weather-exposed position.
Our expert stonemasons and glaziers will pioneer digital technologies alongside traditional techniques in stone cutting and stained-glass preservation to save the Rose Window from further deterioration, working onsite in our world-renowned Centre of Excellence.
This will include the installation of essential ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) protective glazing to safeguard the Rose for generations to come. This is a highly specialised system that would shield the window from harmful radiation, moisture and pollution, fully halting adhesive deterioration and safeguarding it for the next century. This pioneering glass has never previously been used outside Germany.
In addition to the protective glazing, work will include:
- Glass conservation: Cleaning the medieval glass, consolidating fragile paintwork and repairing leadwork.
- Stonework: Conserving (not replacing) at least 30% of the surrounding stonework.
- Specialist training: Providing apprentices with hands‑on experience.
- Long‑term maintenance planning: Regular inspections and monitoring.
How much will it cost?
The full Rose Window conservation project will cost £1.4 million and we are grateful to the Julia Rausing Trust who have made a gift of £540,000 to launch the fundraising campaign.
Together with an investment of £240,000 in the project by the Chapter of York Minster, and £300,000 from an investment in the cathedral’s stained glass from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, this leaves a funding gap of £320,000 to close.
What difference will my gift make?
We’re launching a fundraising campaign to raise the final £320,000 to enable the Rose Window to shine once again for generations to come.
Every donation, large or small, brings us closer to saving this much-loved medieval masterpiece for generations to come. We need your support to safeguard the cathedral for future generations.
Your gift to our campaign will go directly towards the restoration work undertaken by our expert team of craftspeople and apprentices, honing their traditional skills alongside pioneering and innovative technological advances in heritage conservation.
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