Mouse and Minster

Here are Rhya Haugan's observations on the small and large of the Minster tour, September 10.

The Minster writ large over the rooftops of York.  BBC Photo.

Today we visited the York Minster, the renowned cathedral of northern England, known not only for being the largest Cathedral in northern Europe, but also for having the largest medieval stained glass window in the world. However, although the word cathedral may be Latin for “throne”, in the end it is not the size of the church, nor the magnitude of anything that truly measures its greatness. It is instead the small, almost unnoticed details that make these places truly special.

Robert Thompson's signature
mouse, from the Wikipedia
article on the carver.

The obvious elements like the crockets on the spires or the filigree on the windows can be noticed immediately, but often it takes an insider touch, like a knowledgeable tour guide, to point out the finer details. We cannot see it now, but every statue used to be painted, and every window and sculpture has its own story. If you look closely at the stained glass, even the uppermost pictures have full range of expression and shadow etched onto the pane. Even the tile attests to the abundance of line and pattern, while in the same room, tiny faces line the wall, and not all with pleasant expressions. Perhaps my favorite details are the little mice carved onto the bottom of every pew and wooden fixture. If you were to sit there at evensong you might notice one, or perhaps if a friend pointed it out, but otherwise it would be invisible.

The great open spaces and the glory of the architecture may inspire awe, but this only scratches the surface of what a cathedral is. Cathedrals are the home of God, and just as God is more than brute power and glory, his cathedrals are more than vaults and towers. The love and attention should be the same, the richness of detail should be the same, and the almost unattainable knowledge of it all should be the same, and with these details our Minster almost reaches it. For without this range of power and beauty, this range of grandeur and detail, these thrones to God would not sing as strong to His glory.