Come and see the conservation of Birmingham Cathedral’s four remarkable stained-glass windows up close, on a special Divine Beauty Scaffolding Tour!
Our four Burne-Jones windows are currently undergoing historic conservation work to clean and repair them – ensuring they are preserved for future generations to enjoy.
Expert conservators from Holy Well Glass will be completing as much of the work as possible on-site at the cathedral, and have invited visitors to see what their work involves. Our conservators from will be available to meet during the weekday tours on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Our Saturday tours will be led by member of the Birmingham Cathedral team. Our guides will be able to show you the progress up close and talk to you about the project and progress more generally. Please bear this in mind when booking.
Tours will last a maximum of half an hour and will include a safety briefing.
As these tours will be taking place during live conservation work, we can’t guarantee what stage of the work you will see. We will try and keep to the dates and times advertised, but we may need to amend our tours from time-to-time. We will endeavour to let anyone booked onto any affected tours know as soon as possible if our plans need to change.
Important information – please read before booking
- Tours are limited to 12 people per tour for safety reasons. If you would like to book a tour for a larger group, or have any other questions, please email enquiries@birminghamcathedral.com
- Children aged 10 and over are welcome to attend, but under 16’s must be accompanied by a responsible adult.
- A safety briefing will be given, and all attendees must adhere to any instructions given by the cathedral or conservation teams at all times.
- All visitors must wear sturdy shoes to take part – strictly no high heels or open toed shoes.
- A high visibility jacket and hard hat will be provided and must be worn at all times during the tour.
- Large bags cannot be taken up the scaffolding and there is nowhere secure to leave them in the cathedral.
Accessibility and livestreaming
- Access to the scaffolding will be via one flight of stairs, of normal depth and tread.
- These tours are only suitable to those able to navigate these steps independently.
- Some tours may be streamed to allow us to share the experience with those unable to go up the scaffolding. These sessions may be shown via a screen in the cathedral or online via the Divine Beauty YouTube channel – dates and times to be confirmed.
- Any filming of tours will focus on the guide or conservator leading the session and the work being undertaken. While we will avoid capturing attendees, this may be unavoidable – and any questions asked may be captured in this streaming.
- By attending a tour you are consenting to this filming taking place, in order to ensure that we can make the experience as accessible as possible.
- Photos of our windows are allowed and encouraged. We just ask that you don’t take photos of other visitors to the cathedral without their permission, as we will remain open as a place of reflection and worship during this work.
The Divine Beauty Project is generously supported by National Lottery Players, via a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. This support has enabled us to run these tours free of charge. If you would like to make a donation towards this project, you can do so via an add-on to your ticket when booking. We would like to thank everyone who has supported this project over recent years.
If you have any questions, please email our team at enquiries@birminghamcathedral.com
