Day 3: York Minster and the Shambles

Entry to the Shambles

Dessert pastries!!

Aerial view of York Minster's cross shape (model)

A portion of the Nave

Entrance to York Minster

York Minster from a distance

Hello! Today was an adventure for our class. We took a train to York and had a lovely tour of York Minster, the famous Cathedral of the city, and then went shopping at the Shambles and the other wonderful shops down town!
York Minster is actually named the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of St. Peter. It is the seat of the Archbishop of York and the mother church of the Northern Province. By tradition, any church that had the name Minster accompanying it had been established by a missionary. The original York Minster was established by the missionary Paulinus, but the original location is unknown. The present building was begun in 1220 and was finished over 25o years later.
When looking down upon the structure from above it is easy to recognize the Cathedral is in the shape of a long cross in honor of the Lord Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for mankind. The central tower is 60 meters high and weighs 16,000 tons. The building can seat 2,000 people although originally they would stand during worship services. York Minster contains the oldest complete stained glass window. It contains grey and green "grisaille" glass with geometric patterns. This Cathedral is breathtaking! Photographing the inside was a bit tricky because it is so big.
After our tour we went down to the Shambles, an old area of town where there are lots of shops and such. We enjoyed spending time checking out the local shops, tasting wonderful meat pies and dessert pastries! It was a lovely day!