York Minster

Lonely Planet review

England's largest medieval cathedral and Yorkshire's most important historic building is the simply awesome York Minster that dominates the city.

The first church on the site was a wooden chapel built for the baptism of King Edwin on Easter Day 627; its site is marked in the crypt. This structure was sybolically built on the site of an earlier Roman Basilica, traces of which can be seen in the foundations. Fragments of a Norman church, built in 1080, can also be found below the Minster.

The present building, built mainly from 1220 to 1480, manages to represent all the major stages of Gothic architectural development. The transepts were built in Early English style between 1220 and 1255; the octagonal chapter house was built between 1275 and 1290 in the Decorated style; the nave from 1291 to 1340; and the west towers, west front and central (lantern) tower were built.

You enter York Minster from the south transept, and to your right is the 15th-century choir screen depicting the 15 kings from William I to Henry VI. Facing you is the magnificent Five Sisters Window, with five lancets over 15m high. This is the minster's oldest complete window; most of its tangle of glass dates from around 1250. Just beyond it to the right is the 13th-century chapter house, a fine example of the Decorated style. Sinuous stonework surrounds a wonderful uninterrupted space. There are more than 200 expressive carved heads and figures.

Back in the main church, you should notice the unusually wide and tall nave. On both sides of the nave are painted stone shields of the nobles who met Edward II at a parliament in York. Also note the dragon's head projecting from the gallery - it's a crane believed to have been used to lift a font cover. There are several fine windows dating from the early 14th century, but the most dominating is the Great West Window, from 1338, with beautiful stone tracery. Beyond the screen and the choir is the lady chapel and, behind it, the high altar, which is dominated by the huge Great East Window (1405). Roughly the size of a tennis court, it is the world's largest medieval stained-glass window and the cathedral's single most important Treasure. Needless to say, its epic size matches the epic theme depicted within: the beginning and end of the world as described in Genesis and the Book of Revelations.

The minster's heart is dominated by the awesome central tower which is well worth climbing for the unparalleled views of York. You'll have to tackle a fairly claustrophobic climb of 275 steps and, most probably, a queue of people with cameras in hand. Access to the tower is near the entrance in the south transept, which is ominated by the exquisite Rose Window commemorating the union of the royal houses of Lancaster and York, through the marriage of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, which ended the Wars of the Roses and began the Tudor dynasty. Another set of stairs in the south transept leads down to the undercroft, where you'll also find the treasury and the crypt. These should on no account be missed. In 1967 the foundations were excavated when the central tower threatened to collapse; while engineers worked frantically to save the building, archaeologists uncovered Roman and Norman ruins that attest to the site's ancient history - one of the most extraordinary finds is a Roman culvert, still carrying water to the Ouse. The treasury houses 11th-century artefacts, including relics from the graves of medieval archbishops. The crypt contains fragments from the Norman cathedral, including the font showing King Edwin's baptism that also marks the site of Paulinus' original wooden chapel.