7 great reasons to visit The Stained Glass Museum

This jewel of an arts site in Cambridgeshire brings a real glow to winter. Plan a visit and you’ll discover the story of a truly exceptional art form

Morning, 1933, Ervin Bossanyi. Image: The Stained Glass Museum 

Where can you find The Stained Glass Museum?

It is located inside Ely Cathedral, a site that has welcomed pilgrims and visitors for over 1,300 years. Specifically, you’ll find the museum in the south triforium, an upper level of the cathedral, accessed by a stone spiral staircase. The cathedral sits in the centre of the ‘pocket city’ of Ely, about 12 miles north of Cambridge. The station is a 10-minute walk away and the area is served well by local buses.

Why should you visit?

The museum was founded in 1972 to rescue stained-glass windows from destruction and tell the story of this historical art form. Today it houses over 1,000 fragments of religious and secular stained glass, including trials and experiments by artists and craftsmen. Alongside beautiful historical religious panels rescued from churches across the country and beyond, expect to see works by modern and contemporary artists, as well as the tools, materials and preparatory drawings used to produce their creations.

A view of the museum. Image: The Stained Glass Museum 

Which exhibits are a must-see?

While the museum has a wonderful collection of medieval and Victorian pieces, there are more unusual acquisitions to seek out. Highlights include Irish artist Harry Clarke’s St Wilfrid and St John Berchmans (1927), which features exquisite blue tones and highly detailed ornamentation. Also see four artworks by sculptor Geoffrey Clarke, featuring industrial semi-abstract forms, dating from the 1940s. 

Faith, Hope, Charity, 1956, Wilhelmina Geddes/Charles Blakeman. Image: The Stained Glass Museum 

What’s coming up?

Due to the museum’s chilly temperatures in December, this is the time to plan ahead for the new year, as events pick up again in the spring. An array of practical workshops including glass painting and leading are among these popular activities. Additionally, a study tour of Dublin organised by the museum takes in works by leading Irish Arts and Crafts artists of the late 19th and early 20th century, including Harry Clarke and Wilhelmina Geddes. The tour takes place 14–17 April 2024.

Saint Adelaide, 2014, Kehinde Wiley/Skloart Studios. Image: The Stained Glass Museum 

Any special artistic connections? 

The museum was the first ever to acquire a stained-glass work by the American artist Kehinde Wiley, back in 2021. He creates enigmatic portraits that place Black figures at the centre of historical works of art and is perhaps best known for his presidential portrait of Barack Obama. This larger-than-life work reimagines a 19th-century panel by Neoclassical painter Ingres, in which the figure of the Holy Roman Empress Adelaide is replaced by Mark Shavers, a modern-day Brooklyn resident. 

Moses returns from Mount Sinai, John Milner Allen/Lavers and Barraud. Image: The Stained Glass Museum  

Make a day of it

Visitors will be sure to take a turn around the cathedral itself, which features the unique Octagon Tower, a stunning nave ceiling installed as part of a Victorian restoration, and a chapel dedicated to the foundress and abbess of Ely, St Etheldreda. Otherwise, head into the city for a chance to visit Oliver Cromwell’s House, or pop into the Ely Museum, which chronicles the history of the city.

Another view of the museum’s gallery. Image: The Stained Glass Museum 

Here’s a fun fact…

The 11th-century iteration of Ely Cathedral that still stands is built of limestone quarried in Barnack, Northamptonshire. The stone was paid for with the princely sum of 8,000 eels a year!

Find out more

At stainedglassmuseum.com

Going local

Do you live close by – then why not join a local Arts Society?

The Arts Society Ely – theartssocietyely.org.uk

The Arts Society Newmarket – theartssocietynewmarket.org.uk

The Arts Society Granta – theartssocietygranta.org.uk

The Arts Society Cambridge – tascambridge.org.uk

The Arts Society Cantab – theartssocietycantab.org.uk

The Arts Society South Cambs – theartssocietysouthcambs.org.uk  

Among the many upcoming events are the talks The loose and airy, lightness of flowers: Grinling Gibbons and his carvings in wood by Justin Reay (organised by The Arts Society Cambridge) and Cleopatra: images of a dream woman by Lucy Hughes-Hallett (organised by The Arts Society Newmarket).