Thomas Becket stained glass window in wrong order, experts discover
PA
26 January 2021, 12:20 pm
A Thomas Becket stained glass window, made shortly after his death to depict his miracles, has been in the wrong order for hundreds of years, experts have discovered.
The find was made in preparation for a British Museum exhibition on Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury who was brutally murdered by knights with close ties to his friend turned foe – King Henry II.
Their friendship had soured and they clashed in a dispute over the division of power between the crown and the church.
The stained glass windows stood next to Becket’s shrine at Canterbury Cathedral, a destination for pilgrims for hundreds of years.
Stained glass window from Canterbury Cathedral to be centrepiece for UK exhibition on Thomas Becket at the British Museum
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Updated: 12:14, 27 January 2021
A complete stained-glass window from Canterbury Cathedral will be loaned to the British Museum for a major new UK exhibition on Thomas Becket.
The window, which will be shown in it s original arrangement for the first time in 350 years, is one of the cathedral s greatest treasures.
Leonie Seliger is the Director of Stained Glass Conservation at Canterbury Cathedral
As revealed in our feature on the former Archbishop of Canterbury published today, the exhibition is due to be staged at the museum later this year.