(insects calling) (dramatic music) - [Presenter] In the time, before there were churches and before there was electricity, when things got dark at night, it was a pretty tough environment to live in.

Bad things happen to people at night.

(animal calling) There are a lot of wild animals, there were a lot of predators.

People would be predators on other people.

So darkness was always equated with evil.

(euphoric music) (dramatic music) - [Narrator] Sitting atop the highest hill in the nation's capitol, Washington National Cathedral is the sixth largest cathedral, in the world.

With over 200 stained glass windows, the cathedral has a reputation for a magnificent light.

Light that creates a bridge, between the world of the physical and the world of the spiritual.

- More often than not, I am intrigued by the effect it has on that space and that to me is also some of the greatest spirituality of these windows.

The light and this enchanting patterns it creates.

And these patterns, if you are patient enough and stay with the patterns, they move, by us rotating around the sun and that to me is awesome.

To be aware that we are part of a big universe.

- [Narrator] For Dieter Goldkuhle and artist, Rowan LeCompte, the cathedral's west rose window is the crowning achievement of their careers.

It is the cathedral's most celebrated window and was once called the most beautiful window in all of Christendom.

(relaxing music) - The essential experience that launched the window, was in September, October.

Peggy and I went out to look at leaves and we had, we were living in Reston and the leaves were so beautiful.

Some in shadow and some in full sunshine and some mysterious and dim and others just like trumpets and trying to make a design that said that.

And I worked and worked and worked and worked and worked and worked.

(Rowan laughing) And, this is it!

(relaxing music continues) - The rose window is certainly special in my career and it only happens once in a thousand lifetimes, to have a chance to be working on a rose window of that dimension.

- It's presumptuous to try to say, "This shows."

Oh, no, it doesn't.

This is a, a meditation, you might say.

Just one person's meditation on the complexity of the universe.

I can't, I dare not say more than just, it's a, it's an unknowing whisper in the dark, but it's happy.

- [Narrator] After finishing the west rose in 1980, Rowan was commissioned to begin work on a series of large windows, at the clear story level of the cathedral.

The first of these was the Isaiah Window.

The windows' location within the cathedral, led to an experiment in the transparency of the glass.

- Consulted with the building committee and they all agreed that with this blazing nave, the choir looked like a dungeon, very, very dark.

So we decided that if we could make the nave dark, at its end, near the choir, you wouldn't be feeling that you're sitting in a place bathed with light, looking into a pit.

Make it dark at that end, so that the choir doesn't look so terribly dark, by contrast.

So it was dark, deliberately, very dark.

- [Narrator] In 2005, cathedral friend and patron, Hugh Trumbull Adams made a gift to the cathedral, so that this dark window could be replaced with a new window of similar design, but with lighter glass.

In fact, Rowan was given a commission to replace one of his own windows.

- The glass will have much more variation.

I'm using one green, for instance.

And whereas in the glass, there'll be at least three.

The idea being, there'll be a kind of richness of color, just as in, the impressionists, in Van Gogh.

It's marvelous, this combination of tones and tints and shades are so wonderful.

It's Isaiah, who was in the temple one day and was told that there would be an angel, who would come and put a hot coal on his lips and that would purify him.

And yes, he would be able to eat the next day, but this would purify him and prepare him for his ministry.

So, here came the angel.

(horn blaring) (train whirring) I loved architecture and therefore, when I was 14 and an Aunt visiting from Canada, proposed taking me to Washington for one day.

We were met at Union Station and were startled by a very nice dusky gentleman, who said that he would be delighted to show us the wonders and sights of Washington.

And it was then, just a little before 9:00 AM.

And, he would drive us all around anywhere we wanted until 12:00 AM.

"And, how much would that be?"

Said, my aunt.

And he said, "Ma'am, that would be $5."

Oh, that sounded pretty good to her.

So away we went, in his cab (cab whirring) (upbeat music) and late in the morning, when we were up on Embassy Row, it chanced, that we went past an opening in some trees.

And I saw an astonishing site, which I reasoned must be this gothic cathedral that I had heard of.

And Aunt said, "Why, dear, dear, would you like to go see it?"

And I said, "Oh, yes Aunt, please."

We reached a door, we pulled it open and there was absolute darkness beyond.

That was in our eyes, (euphoric music) because when we stepped through the door, they closed behind us.

We were really in an enchanted place.

There was only a perfectly charming blue rose window opposite, hanging in the air, up there, with other windows nearby and they were all in lovely color and I'd never seen color in architecture like this.

And I'd never seen architecture like this.

It was so huge and so beautiful, that I was simply thunderstruck.

It was like a meeting with God.

Well, it was!

It was.

I was overwhelmed by the beauty, by the mysteriousness.

I was just enthralled, I was petrified with joy.

(pensive music) (instrument scraping) These full-sized drawings are called cartoons and they were called cartoons, before anybody drew a picture in the funny paper.

And I just slug along and try to do everything I'm doing, as well as I can, but generally finding that it doesn't please me.

And I go over and over and over and hope that somehow during all this, I'll think, well, I can't do any better than that and it may not be right, but to hell with it.

No, you don't say to the hell with it, you say, I give up.

(Rowan laughing) Temporarily!

Drawing on one of the hardest things here, to get the angles of the hand right and this is an area of much change and uncertainty.

Well, yeah.

Hands too small for figure.

Hand has to be bigger.

(pensive music) When I was 16, I was by, glorious chance, introduced to the architect of the cathedral, by a mutual friend and I went and heard him on the subject of stained glass and that was an education.

He said he wanted stained glass windows in his buildings to have richness and sparkle.

He emphasized richness and sparkle.

And those sounded like wonderful ideals to me.

I mean, there was nothing in me that shrank back and I think there are people that would be offended by that, by those demands, because they'd say, "Oh no, it should be, it should be mute, it should be quiet, it should be restful."

Which is why people fall asleep in church.

But it, in short, it should be soothing and not arousing.

And Mr. Frohman very definitely wanted it to be something that inspired and at that time too, I had a small commission from Goucher College in Baltimore.

They wanted a panel of stained glass, about seven inches wide and 20 inches tall.

He took the panel and put it up and I must say, the angels were with me, because it looked absolutely splendid and there was a huge rainbow projected through it.

His compliments were so obviously sincere and so pungent, that my head spun.

And he said, "There's a place, I'd like you to see."

And we went into a strange room, the like of which I'd never seen.

We were in the unfinished chapel, dedicated to St. Dunstan and in its far wall, was a single window and it was completely open.

He said that, "The window that you showed me, just now, is the kind of window that I've always dreamed of having in that chapel."

Well, I was more than intoxicated, because the idea of being able to do something, for the cathedral was for me, just totally overwhelming and I couldn't help starting little sketches.

He was delighted when I put before him, the full-sized pen and ink drawing and he said, "Well, I like these very much, but we'll see what the building committee says."

He said, "The building committee doesn't have much on and I will be back in hardly more than an hour."

Oh, just before he left, he said and he was very formal, always, "By the way, Mr. LeCompte, how old are you?"

And I said, "I'm 16 Mr.

Frohman."

"Good god!"

He said.

"I did, I thought you were older."

And then, he took the drawings and disappeared.

When he came back, he said, "I'm delighted to be able to tell you that the building committee has unanimously approved your two drawings for the window in St. Dunstan's Chapel."

And of course, again, everything went blurry, (Rowan laughing) before me.

And really, I had never experienced such extremes of joy, as I did then.

Never.

(peaceful music) - [Narrator] When Rowan finishes a cartoon, he sends it off to master craftsman, Dieter Goldkuhle, who must translate this drawing into glass and lead.

For nearly 40 years, This collaboration has produced some magnificent windows.

- The drawing allows you to keep control over all these many pieces, because each pattern is going to be coded or numbered and that tells me where it, where it belongs.

(drawing rustling) But you see, it's taking shape.

Now, this is an interesting double knife pattern cutter.

See, it eliminates a little bit more than a 16th of an inch for the core of the lead.

This is what I eliminate and it's being replaced by the core of the lead.

Otherwise, it would never fit together.

Multiply that by the number of pieces, it just wouldn't go.

There was a family business, my father was in commercial glass storefronts or furniture, glass tops, that sort of thing.

And my father was also quite an entrepreneur and he had three sons and he wanted every of his boys in the business.

So, he thought it would be a neat idea to open up a leaded glass shop.

(Dieter laughing) And I was drawn to that.

The next step was then my father sending me to a technical school, where I served an apprentice and there again, the faculty was all dislocated people from Bohemia, which historically, is a glass making environment.

(relaxing music continues) It was a school which taught them the history of stain glass, then making or designing your own panels and making them.

(class murmuring) And it became a love affair and it hasn't left me and it has to do with the magic of glass and the relationship it has with light and that is a lifelong pursuit of mine.

(peaceful music) What has the greatest influence on me is the medium, the glass itself, the liquidity.

It is how the glass refracts the light, with all its imperfections, like air bubbles or ripples.

It scatters the light.

Well, and also I feel often the glass itself, the individual pieces talk to me, rather than this, in a way, dead reflective surface and the glass, to me, just the feel of it, more is, you know, all these, for instance, this is the edge, (glass scraping) a fire polished edge, now, that to me is just like such a smoothness, no?

Such a feel to it.

Well, this is the sharp edge now.

And also I, (glass scraping) I know the process of making glass, the effort that goes into this and the physical labor and the, in a way, dedication of these people, to devote their life to it.

(Buoyant music) The more traditional 19th century way of making this glass is, it's a factory environment.

It's a continuous process.

The kiln is never cooled down.

They work in shifts, they work on teams, most likely three or four people.

And the initial gather on a blow type, is done by the lowest person on that team.

And then, he may probably create the initial bubble.

But the master glass blower will then enlarge that, to a balloon or cylindrical shape.

(glass blower exhaling) When I watch these people work, they do not talk, it's like a ballet around a furnace.

(buoyant music continues) (machinery whirring) (glass blowers murmuring) (tool clicking) (buoyant music continues) Okay, this is it.

It's a nice medium, that will be lead.

(fingers scraping) (instrument creaking) It's quite critical that the size of the glass fits the pattern.

If the fit is just right, not too lose and not too tight, that will contribute to the glass or the panel's longevity.

If there's any slack, (glass tinkling) gravity will eventually cause it to sag.

In the 16th century, they discovered that a diamond can score glass and along that score line, the glass breaks.

(glass tinkling) But then, the actual fitting occurred with a grossing tool, that nibbled away along the edges.

to make it fit and I've seen medieval glass, where the cutting or the grossing was exquisite.

Now, here I have the biggest piece and I would love to have some shading in that piece.

Now, this is a juicy piece.

You know, when I see this blue green, next to a different shade of, and this slight variation from light to dark, that, to me, is when the colors start to sing.

(Dieter laughing) And also, I like to see, now, this form emerging, once I have this piece in.

So, (Dieter laughing) Yeah, that's where I get my, my kicks.

But then also, owners often need to change pieces.

So if, if I get emotionally too involved, then I feel I own it.

And then for me, that would be very difficult or it's difficult to accept then, the changes.

(dramatic music) - [Narrator] Once Dieter finishes selecting and cutting the glass, Rowan comes in, to inspect his choices.

This often stirs up a bit of creative tension.

- Here are the two pieces that you wanted to recut, right?

(glass scraping) - [Rowan] Well, I think that.

- [Dieter] No, the wrong space, so- (glass clinking) Or may I, - [Rowan] This.

- [Dieter] The wrong space?

The hole is up there.

No, it's for that.

- [Rowan] Good God!

(both laughing) Thank you so much!

Oh yes, that's it.

(glass rustling) Dieter, I think that if this were in some version of dark or dull red.

- [Dieter] Dark red?

- Not so, perhaps not so, not so dark.

But if this were reddish and maybe, in one or two other spots, reddish, I think it'll all, it'll tie together.

- [Dieter] Ah!

- Dieter, that's it.

There's the choice to be made on this.

- I felt I couldn't make that decision and once I cut it and Rowan disagrees with it, then I feel sorry for the piece.

So I'd rather have him make the decision and have the responsibility for the piece.

- Most reasonable.

(Dieter laughing) Most reasonable.

- So, but ultimately, Rowan, it's your window.

There's always a second guessing element in that.

- Well, I think, I make what I think is the right choice and it turns out not to be.

- Yeah, but ultimately I don't want to waste glass, no?

That's what it boils down to, and- - [Rowan] That's why I never throw out any.

- Yeah, that's- - [Rowan] Oh, there'll be a day.

- Yeah.

(Rowan laughing) Alright.

- Well Dieter, let's see the possibilities.

- Well, Rowan.

- [Narrator] After they settle on the glass, Rowan takes the panels back to his studio and begins the solitary, arduous process of painting on detail and controlling the light.

(euphoric music) - Everything that I do, is an experiment and it gets changed and discarded.

That seems to be the way I'm working, looking at what I have thought of having there before and rejecting or accepting.

The paint is made of glass, ground to the smoothness and softness of talcum powder.

But it is glass and if you look at it through a microscope, you'll see that it's all kinds of little sharp points, which we are, with our elephant skins, unable to feel, unless we bite it and then it crunches.

There's no book of rules, except the best one.

There's a wonderful book about stained glass called, it was written in 1905, by a Londoner, an Englishman named Christopher Whall, W,H,A,L,L.

It's called, "Stained Glass work."

Half the book is how to do it, but the other half of the book is called, "Why to Do It."

And his whole insistence, is on making it a personal cause.

Don't do it for money, you'll never have enough money.

Do it only because you're just in love with it, would pay to be allowed to do it, then.

(Rowan laughing) And, I wish that anybody doing stained glass, should do it for that reason, because the world is full of awful windows, made by people who were anxious to, who had no skill, except their hunger for money.

(upbeat music) - I think I'm in love with the process, because that's what I'm involved with on a daily basis.

There's also something in me, that urge to be working, or to be making something.

And I'm not spending much time to contemplate, the finished product.

(Dieter grunting) There are fleeting moments, when I, I am conscious of, "Hey, that looks pretty good."

And I'm proud of being involved in a a row of windows, no?

(glass thudding) The glass has to fire (kiln whirring) at a temperature of about 1,250 degrees.

But it's important that the temperature of the paint, fires at a lower temperature, than the melting point of the glass.

And 1,250 degrees for this type of paint, is just about the right temperature.

If you fire way beyond 1250, the glass itself will deform.

Probably, at 1400, 1500, it will already be to a point, where it loses its shape and at 1700, certainly it will have lost its shape and it will continue to deform completely and becomes a puddle.

And the temperature controls on the kilns are set to reach that temperature within 25 minutes.

And we are already in the process, have reached 920 degrees and we have, let me see, six minutes left.

And I hope, it knows it is doing!

(Dieter laughing) - [Narrator] Back in his studio, Rowan is constantly tweaking the window.

Changing out pieces of glass, to get just the right effect.

(tool scraping) - Well, I wanna change the light piece in that foot, because his skin, as seen in his hands and face, is a fine, deep tan.

And these feet, I'd like to have, at least match those hands.

I developed a strong tremor in my right hand, about a year ago.

It happens that I'm right-handed in writing and in drawing (Rowan laughing) and in glass cutting.

Now, (glass scraping) here comes the excitement.

(glass thudding) (glass tinkling) (glass crackling) Not bad.

Not perfect, not bad.

(tool rattling) This is a comedy of errors.

(glass chiming) A nightmare.

(glass scraping) It's fine.

I'm gonna need to do this too.

(pensive music) - In the assembly, I use lead strips, that I produce myself.

I also cast lead into ingots and then the ingots get milled in a lead mill, that produces this I beam channel.

(machinery whirring) (lead clicking) The tighter the pieces fit, the longer the panel will stay upright.

(Dieter sighing) If there's any slack, it would cause the panel to shift.

So therefore, my cutting fitting testing.

(tool thudding) Now it becomes interesting, because this is going to be a deviation from the plan.

See, by piece having been recut, this fiddling now, shouldn't be.

Now I have to make it fit, which I just am not very fond of.

Yeah, slight adjustments.

(glass clicking) Much better.

Sometimes it's just a fraction.

(tool thudding) (tool thudding) (Dieter speaking a foreign language) See, once I get the panel back from Rowan, then it's totally in my control again and I can set the pace.

(Dieter laughing) Yeah.

And then it becomes in a way, mine, until it is in place.

(Dieter laughing) (Rowan sighing) - Oh, God.

It's like, well no, it's not like doing the head of the Statue of Liberty, but it has to be very coarse or big and bold or it's not going to show up at all, from a distance.

I go way off and look at it (Rowan laughing) and I can closely look at it and the point is, to get something, that would not disgust anybody, seeing it close up and yet will be reasonably effective, seen at a distance.

- [Narrator] The complexities of line, color, glass and even technical structure, that Rowan must keep track of, is really quite astounding, especially when you consider that, at any given time, he's only working on a small fraction of an enormous window.

(relaxing music) The window is now more than three years behind schedule.

This delay has forced Dieter to resign from the project, as the work is bumping into his other commitments.

Commitments like restoring the windows in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, that actually inspired young Rowan.

- I had already planned for this particular commission, a year ago or so and I couldn't back out of that commitment, I felt and I also enjoy this particular artist and the craftsmanship in these windows and the coloration of these windows and it's quite extraordinary.

(buoyant music) - [Narrator] Rowan has asked Mary Clerkin Higgins, who is a former president of the American Glass Guild, to take over for Dieter and help finish the window.

- Mary's very, very good and I would put her only second to Dieter, but she's very fine.

- I'm really thrilled that Rowan asked.

It's so much fun, to work on a project like this and I love working with Rowan.

I just love working in stained glass and it's a beautiful project to work on.

It is interesting, because Dieter has done the color selection for all of the lancets.

I am doing it for the rose.

(glass scraping) And so, I need it to fit in with what he's done and still be true to what I can bring to it and still make Rowan happy.

Rowan is the ultimate judge of everything, it's his window.

He is the one who needs to be happy with it.

- [Narrator] Not only is Mary cutting the glass for this portion of the window, she is also painting it.

- For this, I really have to imitate Rowan's style, because, as I understand it.

(Mary laughing) Because, most of the window has been painted by Rowan.

Rowan's style is to pretty much use straight and dark, black lines, almost like a woodcut.

In any stained glass work, the line is very important.

It has a certain energy to it.

And so, you try to draw the lines with energy, so that the energy actually becomes part of the piece.

You can feel the artist's hand in just the stroke and that actually does impart energy.

All lines have a certain power to them, so that's what I'm trying to do.

Is to find the power.

(Mary laughing) (pensive music) (Rowan laughing) - Wow!

Wow!

Oh, Mary, you've had such a good time.

- [Mary] I have.

- I am very, very, very, very pleased.

I will make the light a little bit, a little bit savager.

- Okay.

- But, I hope you won't mind.

- Oh!

(hands thudding) I want you to be happy.

- I want you to be happy too!

(both laughing) - I hope we'll both be happy.

- I want to make the features, such as will be seen from the floor.

- I don't think there'd be any way, that I could have painted it and then he would've just loved it, as it was, because I painted as best I can understand it, according to what Rowan wants, but only Rowan knows what Rowan actually wants and so here he is finding it and he can add and subtract as he wishes to.

So, I'm really happy with how he's bringing it to life.

I'm just glad he didn't take all the paint off.

(Mary laughing) - Looks jolly to me.

Oh, yes!

I declare us done.

(dramatic music) - Well, congratulations Rowan.

- Mary, to you, the praise.

(somber music) - [Narrator] Rowan's stained glass was subject to review, just like any piece of art in the cathedral.

A small group looked at a composite photograph of the windows panel and they determined that there were enough inconsistencies, between the approved cartoon and the completed panel.

So the window could not be brought forward, to the full Fabric and Fine Arts Committee.

- The message I got was, that the committee that looked and peered, at not the glass, but photographs, that had been taken with electric light and that's what their complaints and doubts were based on.

And indeed, the original contract for this window, says that there shall be no opinions about it, until the committee can see it in place, in the church.

(pensive music) - [Narrator] In September of 2010, Rowan and his wife Peggy, traveled to Washington, to discuss the window with the Reverend Timothy Boggs, who at the time was the provost of the cathedral.

- Reverend Boggs had a list, that he and the Dean and this committee and other people had prepared of things they did not like about this window.

And his statement, which was very strong and- - Emphatic.

- Emphatic, said, "There is no further decision or discussion about this.

The window will not be be installed in the cathedral."

Which was a blow and also a startling way to put it, that there is no further discussion.

This was, um- - When that's said by a politician, one smiles.

- I was really stunned, because I had seen the window in my studio, of course and it's an incredibly beautiful window.

Now, I had only seen the lancet that I did.

So my first reaction was, okay, maybe there are issues with the other lancets and I haven't seen them.

But then, when I saw the documentation that the committee was basing its decision on, I thought, "Well, they haven't seen the window either."

Because this has got nothing to do with the window.

And that's when I put together the photographs I had and the information I had, the knowledge I have of stained glass, into a report, to try to make it more understandable.

One issue was that the angel was holding a coal up to Isaiah and the coal should be a glowing ember and that was the lancet that we had actually put together, here at the studio and the ember is a beautiful yellow, surrounded by orange-reds, it really is a gorgeous, gorgeous glowing ember and it really works well.

But again, in the committee's photographs, it's pink somehow and it's pink, it's dull and it blends in completely, with the glass around it, it's all the same color.

And I cannot understand how that could have happened.

There's also light bouncing off of the front of it, which is not something that you will get, when the window is in place.

It will be surrounded by blackness.

The presentation to the committee, had a stark white background, which actually, even on a piece of paper, it just flares around the window and you can't really appreciate the colors and it makes any darkish colors look really dark.

- We gave a copy of that to the canon and requested that he look at it.

He said, "I'll look at that sometime."

But the decision is, the window will not, there is no further discussion."

- There often is a tension between committees and artists.

What I would have to say about Rowan's work on this window, is that it is the culmination of a lifetime, spent contemplating stained glass and its issues and how to make windows, that really have life, energy and substance to them and he has made many masterpieces.

He is not someone who takes stained glass lightly.

He thinks about all of the elements in a window and how he can put them all together, to make a window that's alive.

It's not an easy thing to do and we see many windows around us, that really have no life to them whatsoever.

But Rowan's have life, they have energy and all of his decisions, are related to trying to get to that, in a window.

- So I don't know what the outcome is gonna do to you.

I mean, we just, this is just a couple hours ago.

- I say, that it will be for the good.

(Peggy laughing) (hand thudding) (pensive music continues) (somber music) - There's always this underlying goal of perfection and that is elusive, I will never be absolutely perfect, but that's what is behind it now.

And to do something as well as I can, is still my pursuit.

And then, I can only think of how lucky I am, that I have a chance to work on projects that will last and will maybe have impact on future generations.

- [Narrator] Mary's report actually did have an effect.

In a subsequent meeting with Rowan and Peggy, the Dean and Andrew Hollinger, said The Cathedral, will look at the window again with fresh eyes.

A team was assembled, to review the window and to look at some of the panels through natural light.

They determined, that the next step, would be to install the two side panels, replacing the existing dark panels.

- It is possible that, once the two new lancets are installed, they may have a better understanding of how the window works and they may decide to install the other two lancets.

- I would like that and I'd like to live long enough to see it.

But who can tell?

We, all of us can vanish away, before we know it.

But I would like, very much, to see that in place, in the hope that I would say, "Oh, it's better than it was before."

(Rowan laughing) If I say, "Oh, it's worse than it was," before that, is disappointing!

- So at this point, I will be installing two lancets of the S-eight window, in October.

(dramatic music) - [Narrator] In August of 2011, a major earthquake rattled the Washington DC area.

One of the hardest hit buildings, was Washington Cathedral.

With over $17 million in damage, the cathedral's focus had to shift and the installation of the window was put on hold.

(dramatic music continues) On February 11th, 2014, at the age of 88, Rowan LeCompte passed away, unable to withstand a bout of pneumonia.

The cathedral celebrated his life and legacy, in a memorial service, (triumphant music) that July.

(wind whirring) Two months later, in early October, 2014, the cathedral's new administration was finally able to use the scaffolding, installed for repairing earthquake damage and revisit the issues, surrounding this window.

(dramatic music) After three years of darkness, in the cathedral attic, portions of the new window, once again saw daylight.

(tool whirring) Mary Higgins assembled a crew, to begin the delicate, difficult task of removing the old panels and installing the two side lancets of Rowan's creation.

(lancet clicking) (tools whirring) - The new windows are much lighter than the ones we're taking out.

We have one of the original windows, sitting in between two of the new windows and it looks completely black, compared to these other windows, which have rich color in them and which are really sparkling.

So you can see why Rowan wanted to redo the window, because the other window is so black and it fits in better with all of the other windows, in the nave clerestory.

I think the committee can't help but notice, how much lighter they are and how they fit in with the other windows in the nave.

But I have no idea what decisions they will make.

There's just no way to tell.

(peaceful music) - When they actually got a chance, to look at the whole window in place, the decision was, that they really felt, that for a lot of reasons, the the newer window, the window that Mr. LeCompte made, was really better for that space than the, than a kind of mixture of old and new.

I mean and I felt, when I looked at it, that it would be better, to have one aesthetic vision, rather than a mixture of two aesthetic visions, his earlier window and his later window.

And I agreed with him and I thought that the later window was a better choice.

So they reversed that original decision and actually went with the newer window, the later window (tools tinkling) Art in the church is always a dance, between the individual artists and the needs of the community.

And I'm just grateful, that we're at a place now, where we are able to get closer to a mutual understanding of Mr. LeCompte's vision, for that window and our vision for that window and that they are, they're now in the same place.

(peaceful music continues) - So, we just put the last panel in of Rowan's Isaiah window and it looks amazing.

And it, well, it feels really good, to be at this point, to be, to have accomplished this.

I think the window looks fantastic.

It fits in very much better, with the windows surrounding it, than the original did.

I think Dieter would love it and he's done an incredible job of having movement in the red.

I mean, red is a rich color to start with, but then he's made it exciting and interesting, by the way that he's done the color selections.

I think Rowan would be extremely pleased with this and I know, I think it's, I'm very pleased, I think he did, he made a beautiful window.

(relaxing music) ♪ When the angel arrives, there will be terror ♪ ♪ But say yes ♪ ♪ The sound of wings, like the breaking of a mirror ♪ ♪ But say yes ♪ ♪ It will arrive, where you're little and you're scared ♪ ♪ It will lay claim to the things you've never shared ♪ ♪ And though your heart and your soul are unprepared ♪ ♪ Say yes ♪ ♪ And it may tear you from home and family ♪ ♪ But say yes ♪ ♪ It may demand you become a refugee ♪ ♪ But say yes ♪ ♪ And when you're cold and you're homeless ♪ ♪ And you're poor ♪ ♪ When you're in pain, in a room without a door ♪ ♪ And when the angel returns and asks for more ♪ ♪ Say yes ♪ - [Rev.

Hall] Rowan and Dieter's legacy at the cathedral, will be everlasting.

Rowan is clearly one of the finest stained glass artists, in the world and we're just so pleased to be the showcase, for so much of his beautiful, beautiful work.

Dieter was a craftsman, unparalleled, his attention to detail shows through and their names will be cherished here and remembered forever.

♪ When the legions of angels call you blessed ♪ ♪ Say yes ♪ ♪ And were you faithful in each and every test ♪ ♪ Say yes ♪ ♪ And when they ask you its story and its song ♪ ♪ Were you upheld and protected all along ♪ ♪ And did the power of the spirit make you strong ♪ ♪ Say yes ♪ (cathedral visitors murmuring) - I want, you know, gaiety, song and dance.

Let there be music, let there be color, let there be light.

(buoyant music) (euphoric music) - [Narrator 2] "Rowan LeCompte, Master of Stained Glass," is a new book that features high resolution photos of over 200 of Rowan's windows and is available, along with the director's cut of this film, at rowanlecomptewindows.com.

(logo reverberating)