The Great Glass Mystery

The sky was absolutely red from horizon to horizon. I've never seen

any thing like it at all. Provost Howard was in charge of the

cathedral. He realised that it was too late, the roof was on fhre. He

went around grabbing anything of value. The real mystery is, what

happened to the remaining stained glass? Was stolen by somebody in the

middle of the confusion of war? Nobody knows.

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God... Before hts

destruction, Coventry Cathedral had two types of stained glass, medieval

and Victorian. The medieval windows were high up above the nave and

either side of the altar. They were removed before the Blitz and saved,

but no one seems to know wh`t happened to the Victorian

stained`glass that filled the rest of the cathedral. At least tntil

now. As chief executive of the World

Monuments Fund UK, Dr Jonathan Foyle has helped restore the medidval

glass, but now he wants to solve the mystery of the missing Victorian

windows. Every story I have heard about this class has been slightly

different, people's recollections, Chinese whispers. One thing that I

have heard that intrigues md is that it ended up abroad. Others have said

it ended up going to an anthques dealer. Who would have taken it Did

they steal it, buy it? I don't know the answer to many of these things

and I want to get to the bottom of it. Why is he so keen to solve this

mystery? Because so little of Victorian Coventry survives. Bombing

reduced much of Victorian Coventry, largely because the targets, those

19th century and 20th century factories, were the targets, so the

historic core, the 15th century buildings survives much better than

people tend to think. The Vhctorian stuff has become victim to war. To

begin with, Jonathan is meeting someone who knows more about the

cathedral's history than anxone else. Canon Wright! What a pleasure,

great to meet you. Kenyon Wright spent 11 years as a minister at

Coventry Cathedral. His theory is that the Victorian stained glass

somehow made its way onto the black market. A stain on the history of a

cathedral, that has got to be had. He shows Jonathan where is theory

came from, an article in thd Coventry Evening Telegraph printed

more than 30 years ago. In the first column, the Victorian glass was

removed along with the medidval glass, confirmed by Jack Ashford,

one of the men who took the glass out in 1939. Yes, they seem sure

from the cathedral records that the medieval glass was taken. Wd don't

know about the other, but hhs word is boldly as good as anybodx's.

`` probably. The article st`tes that as Hitler scrambled his bombers the

valuable medieval stained glass was removed, so too was some of the

Victorian windows. The panels were carefully put into wooden crates and

riven 17 miles out of the chty to the village of Hampton Lucy. ``

driven. There they were kept in erect three stable is, safe from the

loved father, but vulnerabld to thieves. `` in the rectory stables.

And some of the Victorian p`nels went missing before turning up in

London in an antiques shop. In the confusion of war, the whole of

Europe was full of people confused as to where they were, what was

happening, death everywhere. In the midst of that confusion, it may not

be too surprising that somebody quietly purloined the glass and took

it to London to sell. I suppose that is, in wartime, the kind of thing

that happens. Crucially, thd article also revealed who bought thd glass

and where once it ended up. It is from Coventry? Coventry, is

it? One with glass from Covdntry, have you heard about that? Xes. Does

everybody know that story? Jonathan has travelled over 1000 milds to the

edge of the Arctic Circle. @kureyri is a frozen outpost in a snowy

wilderness, and yet the talk of the town is a window from Warwickshire.

It even gets a mention in the guidebooks. It is a long wax from

home, about 20 degrees colddr, but Canon Wright showed me the `rticle

that explains the glass had found its way via London 20 Iceland, so

here I am in Akureyri to have a look at it. But Jonathan is notorious. He

is here to ask one simple qtestion. Is it stolen? If it is, that is what

the evidence is beginning to tell me, how am I going to deal with it?

With the range of people who are involved? There are reputathons at

stake, this is possibly the law at stake as well. If you start wading

into unfamiliar waters... Pastor Jonsson, hello, Jonathan

Svavar Jonsson is the church pastor. So which one? Here you can see it.

It has the real Victorian, 09th century style, surrounded bx 20th

century glass. The panel debates the presentation of the baby Jesus in

the temple and its central position in the church suggests it h`s become

a focal point for the entird community. The visual and thematic

focus of the whole building now Yes, it is in the centre. Svavar

Jonsson tells Jonathan that the window was indeed bought from an

antique shop in London by two Icelandic traders during thd war.

Helgi Zoega took antiques b`ck from London dodging icebergs and U`boats,

and his twin brother Kristj`n sold the glass and its story to the

church. The chairman of the committee heard it from this antique

dealer in Reykjavik, who told him that this window was origin`lly in

an English cathedral that w`s destroyed in the war, and it was in

Coventry. In Akureyri, the glass is regarded as something of a liracle,

and the story of how it emerged unscathed from the rubble of

war`torn Coventry has been taught to generations of Sunday school

children. Perhaps uprising, considering many suspect it was

stolen. Well, a rumour exists that they were stolen from somewhere

have you heard about? Yes, we heard that, because they have not

explained the history of thd window from Coventry to London, and one of

the explanations is that it has been stolen, and we have heard that, and

that is what has always been clear to us that if they wish to get the

window back, we would return it We would ask for permission to make a

copy of it and then return ht. But Coventry Cathedral has never asked

for it back. Instead, the glass has become a symbol of internathonal

friendship. A delegation from Coventry came to Iceland to strike

up a relationship between the two churches, and there is talk of an

exchange trip. I heard rumotrs of a pilgrimage. Yes, we are planning a

pilgrimage to Coventry. It hs interesting to see the glass in this

context and here the broadbrush story of how it is supposed to have

got here, but in the end, everything points back to the people who got it

from London in the first pl`ce, and it is Helgi and Kristjan Zodga from

Reykjavik, so that is the place to concentrate. So it is on to

Iceland's capital, where Jonathan has heard there is more Covdntry

glass. Lots more! Here we have the Apostles S`int

Peter and Saint Paul, and hdre St Jude and Saint Thomas. Very

different style, how intrigting Saint ball and Saint Peter `gain.

Yes, we have one still here. At this church in Reykjavik, Sigurdtr

Jonsson shows Jonathan panel at the panel of stained glass, all

apparently from Coventry Cathedral. I was happy to see one panel in

Akureyri, that was enough to justify the journey, but this is a whole

gallery of Saints, it looks like Coventry Cathedral on holid`y here!

Where did all this glass cole from? The Icelandic antiques dealdrs

again, Kristjan and Helgi Zoega That is what I have heard and I have

been told, that they boarded. They knew it came from Coventry.

Dashboard it. But when Jonathan takes a closer look, somethhng isn't

right. I am puzzled by this. The width is about right, this would

match one of the apse windows in Coventry. But I do not think the

shape is the same as Coventry's windows, so it is just making me

begin to pause for thought, as to whether this is Coventry gl`ss.

Could some of the panel not have come from Coventry after all? Every

window in the ruins of the cathedral has an elaborate floral arch, and

yet none of the panels Jonathan has seen in Iceland would appear to fit

in such a window. This is what is called a Lancet, two simple curves,

typical of the 13th century. But Coventry is late 14th century

onwards, and by that time the windows were more complex, filled

with costs, so the tops of the windows have to be more complex to

fit within the shakes. `` ctsps It is possible that the glass could

have been recovered to size, but Jonathan has his doubts and suspects

the story of Coventry Cathedral s stained glass and its perilous

wartime journey across the @tlantic may be knocking more than a

70`year`old myth. `` nothing. I have to say, I smell a rat now, because I

have seen no evidence at all that what was imported into Icel`nd 0

years ago was from Coventry. Yeah, it is English stained glass, yes, a

story exists, but I have to figure out what the story is based on. Is

it Coventry, or is it balondy? So it is back to Coventry, where Jonathan

begins his investigation. At this point, I need some hard information.

If there is the right person to find the right information, it is going

to be George in the archives. He was the city archaeologist for 20 years

or so. The Martin city of Coventry... The

martyred city, you understand where the language comes from, don't you?

It is just the utter destruction. George has been studying thhs

newsreel. The bombs rained down on Coventry for ten hours, killing more

than 500 people and flattenhng 000 homes. But amongst the harrowing

images there is an important clue for Jonathan's investigation. This

is the view on the West door to the apse, where we are standing at this

moment. You can see that although it is a distant shot, you can see how

glass is hanging on, held up by some of the glazing bars. Yeah, they are

still there today. There ard still tiny fragments hanging on. The

newsreel clearly shows the stained glass was melted and mangled by the

intense heat of the firebombs. Every appears smashed. What's that

convinced me of is, whatever was still in the windows on the night of

the bombing could not have survived, the intact panels, so if thdre was a

Victorian glass, it has to have come out before the bombing. If ht stayed

in, it is gone. So the only way the Victori`n glass

could have got to Iceland is if it was removed before the Blitz and

stored with the medieval gl`ss. To find out if that is what has

happened, George has been examining some key documents. The first is a

book written by the Cathedr`l's provost. He says, we decided that

the beautiful 15th century stained glass in the apse should be taken

out and stored. What is important is that this took several months and a

few fragments were found. There is no mention at all of any Victorian

glass, nor is it mentioned hn this handwritten note by the provost So

what about George's final document, written by a member of the

Restoration committee? Largd quantities of medieval stained glass

have been taken from the windows and removed to a place of safetx. So he

singles that out as well as being the important stuff to keep, so

Nantes of these three writers mentioned the Victorian glass. ``

Norn. It is clear that in these three different accounts of the

removal of the glass, only the medieval glass from the apsd and the

clear story is removed. There is no mention of any other glass,

Victorian or otherwise, being taken out. So the documentary evidence

suggests that because Victorian glass wasn't valued in the 0940s, it

was simply left in place and lost to the flames.

But with international reputations at stake, Jonathan can't afford to

jump to conclusions. He's hoping Bob and Irene Chainey might remdmber

what happened to the glass. They've worshipped at the cathedral for more

than 80 years, even when it was full of rubble. So that's you thdre? Yes.

Don't look much different. So, Bob, the night of the bombing in November

1940, what was it like? I w`s going to take Irene to a dance. Wd were in

the Home Guard. And we'd got a dance arranged for that night. Yot had a

date lined up? Yes. But, on that night, the sky was absolutely red

from horizon to horizon. I've never seen another night like it `t all.

Irene, what do you remember about the stained glass in St Michael s?

Well, when war broke out, Provost told us that they were going to

remove all the medieval glass that was very valuable. And it w`s in the

two side windows. Not in thd main three ones over the altar. @nd the

whole lot of the medieval glass was sent, we were told, to Hampton Lucy.

Right, OK. OK. But what abott the Victorian glass, what happened to

that? It was still there. It was just left in place. Oh, yes. Yes.

What she's saying as an eyewitness is the same thing that the

documentary history is tellhng us. And to me, when you get the two

things together, it locks. But Jonathan's after definitive proof.

And believes it lies with r`re photos taken inside the cathedral

before its destruction. Did the panels in Iceland come from these

windows? Jonathan's come to Coventry University's Touch Digital Lab to

find out. We see that the Presentation of Christ in the Temple

is actually this scene here. Dr Jasmine Allen is the curator of the

Stained Glass Museum in Ely and specialises in Victorian gl`ss.

Thanks to this 1885 inventory of Coventry Cathedral, she's convinced

the treasured glass in Akurdyri could only have come from one of two

cathedral windows. And this is one of them. So when you put thdm side

by side, they're totally different pictures, aren't they? Yes. Christ

is facing a completely diffdrent way. The only other possibility is

that the Akureyri panel camd from this window at the back of the

cathedral. No photo of it strvives, but the inventory reveals who made

it and the style of glass in Iceland doesn't seem to match. The figure

modelling is all wrong. What I mean by that is the way the figures are

painted you can see with a stipple brush on the head of Simeon here is

quite heavily`modelled. The face looks quite naturalistic. That goes

against a lot of kind of Hardman's principles. And I think that it s

been made at the hands of ldss experienced artists. OK. So you re

ruling this one out, as well? I am, I'm afraid. Jasmine's concltsion

confirms what Jonathan feardd ` that the glass at the centre of the

church in Akureyri is a fratd. In fact, Jasmine doesn't believe any of

the glass in Iceland came from Coventry. Well, I think thex were

certainly bought at a dealers in London. I don't think, however, they

are from Coventry Cathedral. They were probably moved from many

different church buildings. And I think the antique dealer probably

used the words Coventry Cathedral to sell them quicker. To enhance the

provenance? Yeah. Which has definitely worked. Pulled a fast

one. Generations of worshippers it seems, have been fooled by one dodgy

antiques dealer in London. Hf the documentary history, the visual

comparisons, and a scholar `ll say it's wrong, I don't see how it can

be right. But Jonathan must now break the news to the churches in

Iceland and to Coventry Cathedral. It's an unenviable task. I lean

some of the people from the cathedral have been on pilgrimage to

Iceland, you know. And I want to make sure that I tell the Ddan the

truth, but in the way that ht doesn't detract. And I don't know

how exactly that's going to come across. Frankly, the glass doesn't

fit Coventry in age or size. Jonathan tells Dean Witcombd

everything he's discovered. So the fault doesn't lie with the people in

Iceland or Coventry. What do you think about that? Well, I mdan, it's

quite nice that there's not been any kind of deliberate deception

anywhere. That's really nicd to know. And in a sense that hdlps us

cement that partnership between us and the people in Iceland. We've

kind of in a sense both been, if you like, duped a bit by the story. So,

well there's a sense of sadness because in a sense you alwaxs want

something to be true, don't you So there's a bit of a sense of that

but, yeah, it means we can kind of greet each other well. And not have

any animosity. It's in Akurdyri in Iceland, though, that the glass and

the myth are most treasured. And it's here the news will be lost

controversial. On the one h`nd, I feel a big weight of responsibility

for taking apart a seven`decade old story which has really defined some

of the significance of the way that some of the people of this city see

themselves. And I don't say that lightly because they've built an

entire relationship with thd city of Coventry on that basis. So ht's an

important international fridndship that's been struck up. On the other

hand, the truth will out. But nothing matches. OK. Nothing

matches. And all the experts we ve talked to say the glass is not from

Coventry after all. So, what do you think about that? What should I We

always supposed it was from Coventry. Yes, it's surprisdd me but

we will then update our text about this window but we will continue to

cherish this window and it has always been a mystery around this

window. How did it get to Iceland? It will be much more mysterhous now.

I thought he took it with good grace, but it didn't feel good. I

felt like the bearer of bad news. So, yeah, I think it was a bit

tough. But, you know, he's ` decent man and he's very philosophhcal

about it. It is always a little odd to... When

you have thought something `nd it isn't right. But... A littld bit

relieved, also. Because manx people said it was stolen from Covdntry.

But now we know that isn't true It wasn't stolen from Coventry.

And Jonathan suspects that that revelation will mean a great deal to

someone else, someone who h`s for decades been plagued by the

controversy surrounding the glass, the daughter of the Icelandhc

antiques dealer, Kristjan Zoega Now, when we first approachdd her

about this, she put the phone down and I don't know why. Cos this is 70

years on. So obviously something rankles and I don't know whdther

it's from family or whether it's publicity but she didn't want to

talk about it. But then she agreed to come. So I'm hoping that she does

because if there is an issud there, I'd love to talk it through with her

and sort it out once and for all. They are twin brothers: Kristjan has

come, along with her partner, Agust. And she's brought along a photo of

her father and uncle, the Zoega brothers. They are 14 years old

there. What do you understand about the story of the Coventry glass I

heard it when I was a child. The glasses were from Coventry church.

And your father told you th`t? Yes, I think so.

But she explains that what tpsets her is the suggestion that her

father sold stolen glass. A suggestion that has even appeared on

Icelandic television. I didn't like that. It was very

upsetting because they were assuming that these were stolen things. Yes.

But I think always when these things were mentioned, it irritated me

Irritated you? Yes, irritatdd me. He was a very kind and very nice man.

Jonathan's findings rule out any suggestion that her father sold

glass stolen from Coventry. And, after decades of

unsubstantiated whispers, it's time for her to hear the truth.

The Victorian glass was all lost and therefore the glass in Reykjavik and

Akureyri is not from Coventry. But your father's brother bought it

in London from someone who said "Oh, it's from Coventry Cathedral,"

and that is where the fault lies ` in the man who sold it saying it was

from Coventry. Because we can show that it wasn't.

So his story is at fault. And nothing to do with your father or

your uncle or your family. OK, I'm glad to hear it. What does that mean

to you? It means a lot to md, yes. Yes, it means a lot. Thank xou very

much. That really pleased me, acttally.

This has brought me to... This little journey has done somdthing I

didn't anticipate that it would And I think her mind is really `t rest

now. But Jonathan's investigation isn't

quite at an end. Back in Coventry, Dean Witcombe has asked him to look

at something else. Yes, I love this chapel. It's just amazing. @mazing

space. For decades, everyond thought the Victorian glass had either been

stolen or was over in Iceland. But Jonathan's investigation has

left only one conclusion: That the glass lay amongst the rubbld of the

Blitz. What few people know is that the rubble was kept.

Well, it's a storeroom of stonework, so why did you bring me down here?

It's because through this whndow here you can see the stones that

fill at least one and probably more of the other crypts. And wh`t

happened, after the bombing, the whole of the space above us in the

old cathedral was full of all the debris from that bombing and it was

all shovelled into the crypts and of course it wasn't just stones, it was

glass. That glass was simply discarded by a

generation that didn't valud Victorian art.

But now, 70 years on, with so little of Victorian Coventry left, even

tiny fragments would be a rdmarkable find.

The truth is that Coventry's story is bound up on the night in 194 ,

and that's when all the glass was lost. And it's still here all along.

And one day, someone in my position is going to have the great luck to

be able to open up that crypt, sift through and reveal another story in

turn and that is: What's left of Coventry's Victorian glass?