Stained glass....

I love stained glass windows. Many of the Victorian churches in Manchester have them. In Victorian times the windows behind the altar would usually be of stained glass but, as they were expensive, the rest of the windows might be clear glass. Sometimes wealthy parishioners would pay for another window to have stained glass as well.

St Clement's Church in Chorlton has some beautiful Victorian stained glass in the main part of the church. But upstairs I found this beautiful modern stained glass with the sun streaming through it transforming the space inside.

It reminded me of the glass in Manchester Cathedral. It used to have Victorian glass but that all went in the Manchester Blitz in WW2. I hadn't realised that Manchester Cathedral was the second most damaged cathedral in the country after Coventry. And that was razed to the ground. They are still repairing the damage, with the last piece in the jigsaw being the organ for which the cathedral has just been given a generous private donation. Very generous indeed.

Rather than restore the Victorian glass they replaced it with modern. So we have one of the oldest buildings in the city contrasting with the modern glass. And it works well. As does this beautiful window in St. Clement's.....