The immense cathedral of York Minster - the second largest Gothic cathedral in Europe - was finally declared complete, and consecrated, after being under construction since 1220. Several previous churches had stood on the site, the first a wooden structure built for the coronation of King Edwin of Northumbria in 627. A later stone replacement was built in the Norman style at the end of the twelfth century, but a century later, the Gothic style had become the architectural mode of choice. When Walter de Gray became Archbishop of York in 1215, he ordered a new cathedral to rival Canterbury in its gothic splendour. The Minster was built in stages over the next two and a half centuries: the transepts were completed first, in the 1250s, and t…
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Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Construction of York Minster completed". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 31 July 2012 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=9392, accessed 23 November 2024.]
