THE magnificent Great East Window of York Minster has been fully unveiled following a decade-long restoration project.

All 311 stained glass panels were removed from the 600-year-old window - the country's largest Medieval stained glass window - in 2008, and York Glaziers Trust have spent more than 92,000 hours conserving each and every piece.

The work is part of an £11.5m programme, which also saw hundreds of stones at the Minster's east end repaired and replaced by the Minster's stonemasons, to ensure the window is restored and conserved for at least the next 100 years.

Sarah Brown from York Glaziers Trust said the extensive work was a highlight of her career, and she felt it was a privilege to have been part of the project.

She said: "It's in the same bracket as the great post-war work that was done to put all the windows that had been taken out for wartime safety back in, and I think as the single biggest expanse of Medieval glass in the Minster it's probably the biggest project most of us will ever tackle. I think it's probably the most exciting project I shall ever be involved with.

"I don't think any of us had really expected it to be quite so rewarding though, because it is really a window of unparalleled beauty and of course great narrative power, so exploring the narrative as we went through it panel by panel was really a labour of love and tremendously rewarding."