Recreating St William's Shrine: A Cinematic Experience

York Minster is running Recreating St William's Shrine, a cinematic experience that brings back one of the city's lost landmarks. It's part of St William of York: Life and Legacy, the cathedral's 800th-anniversary exhibition marking eight centuries since William FitzHerbert was canonised in 1226. The experience runs from 31 January to 31 December 2026, during sightseeing times, and it's split across two parts of the Minster: the film in the Undercroft Museum and the exhibition in the Treasury.

FitzHerbert was Archbishop of York twice in the 12th century, a popular but controversial figure whose appointment sparked political and religious disputes. His death remains an unsolved medieval mystery: he fell violently ill while celebrating Mass, and rumours that his communion chalice had been poisoned were never proved. After he died, his two-storey stone nave shrine became one of England's great pilgrimage sites, before it was dismantled and buried under the city's streets between 1538 and 1541 during the English Reformation.

This project brings fragments of that shrine back to the Minster for the first time in nearly 500 years, lent by York Museums Trust. They're displayed alongside an Arabian-designed ivory casket made in Sicily and a reproduction of the Archbishop's only surviving seal. The film was built from 3D laser scans of those fragments, taken by the Minster's Centre of Excellence for Heritage Craft Skills and Estate Management, and brought to life in Unreal Engine. The film is by York studio Hewitt and Walker, with digital imagery by Viridian FX, and the exhibition is curated by Dr Jennie England, York Minster's Research Coordinator.

It's included with a sightseeing ticket, so there's no extra cost to see it. The whole thing runs through to 31 December 2026, during sightseeing times, so you've plenty of time to fit it in.