Church windows: St. Mel’s Cathedral in Longford

Execution of Art Glass Window, designed by Kim En Joong completed

St. Mel’s Cathedral in Longford, Ireland was almost completely destroyed, after a devastating fire in 2009. In despite of the immense damages and the still ongoing restoration, the church was re-opened in Dec 2014. Father Kim En Joong, artist and priest, designed the art glass windows for the new church windows and Derix Glasstudios in Taunusstein translated his design into glass. The work was completed in December 2016.

Art Glass Windows for St. Mel’s Cathedral in Longford, Ireland

Since damaged by the fire, St. Mel’s has been restored step by step. St. Mel’s Cathedral has been and still is a landmark in Longford for both, citizens and tourists. Part of this restoration work is also the conception of the new church windows. In 2014, the first construction phase of the windows for the first side of the cathedral was completed and in December 2016 the second. One part of the restorations work was to create a new concept for the church windows. The art glass windows had been executed in two separate work phases: The east side windows had been completed in 2014, the west side windows in 2016. The priest and artist Kim En Joong, born in South Korea, is an internationally well-known contemporary artist and designer for church windows. In cooperation with the artist, Derix Glasstudios Taunusstein executed the art glass windows, translated the design on toughened float glass panels by hand painting and airbrushing in several stages using vitreous enamels, and finally acid etched and hand painted hand blown glass had been laminated onto the toughened float glass panels.

The Artist Kim En Joong (76) member of the Dominican Order and of the Catholic Academy of France lives and works at a Dominican monastery in Paris, France.

His handwriting is unique – the artistic style of his design and the composition of colors is exclusive and distinctive. Combining Art and Faith in perfection – Kim En Joong is called “painter of light”. He has been cooperating with Derix Glasstudios since many years and the studio is proud to have executed several projects with him.

 

Rising from the ashes “: The story of St. Mel’s Cathedral

In 2009 St. Mel’s Cathedral was devastated by a great fire: In the early morning of December 25th, a fire broke out at the back side of the building, which almost destroyed the complete church in the province of Leinster. The first efforts of the fire brigade to extinguish the fire failed, because of the weather conditions – the water in the pipes got frozen, so that the fire spread for even more hours. In 2011 the cathedral’s ruins were opened for the first time for visitors. After a long restoration phase the Catholic church was re-opened in December 2014. It’s definitely worth to visit the cathedral because of its neoclassical architecture with its unique appearance additional to the artistic church windows and the glorious lighting. It inspires not only the community of Longford but also tourists from all around the world.

Innenraum der St. Mel's Kathedrale während Renovierungsarbeiten mit Gerüsten, Baumaterialien und Arbeitern.
Buntes Kirchenfenster mit abstraktem Design in der St. Mel's Kathedrale.
Ein farbenfrohes Kirchenfenster mit abstraktem, modernem Glasdesign in Blau, Gelb und Rot vor einem hellen Hintergrund.
Abstraktes Buntglasfenster in leuchtenden Farben Rot, Gelb, Blau in der St. Mel's Kathedrale.
Buntglasfenster in einer Kathedrale mit lebhaften, abstrakten Farbmustern in Rot, Blau und Gelb.