Balanced on a metal scaffold outside a historic church in Richmond, a group of stained-glass experts carefully restored a piece of a church window that’s over 100 years old.
A dwindling number of workers are trained in restoring and preserving stained glass pieces like those at St. John’s United Methodist Church. While the glass itself can last for centuries, the black metal lines between panels, called the lead matrix, wear out with age. St. John’s windows had begun to bow after 103 years of exposure to Texas heat.
The church’s small congregation, which sees about 275 people on an average weekend, was determined to save its windows, despite a price tag of about half a million dollars for the restoration…