York Minster - South Side

The southern side of York Minster (built 1230-1472) is dominated by a Gothic "rose window" considered one of the cathedral's architectural treasures.  In 1984, a lightning strike set the south transept on fire, so firefighters from all over Yorkshire raced to the Minster and pumped vast volumes of water out of the Ouse River to extinguish the fire before it could destroy the Rose Window.  Four years and 2.5 million British pounds later, the repairs to the south transept were completed, and the Rose Window still lets light into the cathedral.