In light of the closure, demolition and repurposing of numerous churches, the lectures were highly interesting and topical, and were greatly appreciated by an audience of more than 100 attendees from many different countries. There was a striking number of young people present, including five former students from the Conservation-Restoration programme of the University of Antwerp.
The first presentation was an immediate success and offered insight into the origins and operation of the English Stained Glass Repository. This organisation rescues stained-glass windows from demolished or repurposed churches and finds new homes for them. Establishing suitable storage facilities for removed stained-glass windows is an ambition that we also share at Ars Lucis.
There was also a remarkable lecture on the relocation of British stained-glass windows to Japan. More than 4,000 stained-glass windows have now been given a new lease of life there.
The project Remembered Light: Glass Fragments from WW2 rightly received a standing ovation. This exhibition evo illustrates how fragments of stained glass recovered from the ruins of the Second World War have been integrated into newly created works of art. The fragments were collected by the American army chaplain F. M. McDonald during the liberation of Europe. It was both moving and meaningful!
Alongside several other speakers, I was invited to give a presentation entitled: “The Wholesale of Stained Glass from the Low Countries towards England during the 18th and 19th centuries”.