The Minster still maintains a small staff of craftsmen, including stonemasons and glaziers, whose skill and artistry is the equal of their 13th century predecessors. And they are still adding their own humorous touches in secret places around the Minster. Among the decorations of the Great West Doorway, two tiny corbels, each about the size of a fingernail, are carved with the heads of a Klingon and a Ferengi - Star Trek characters.
Elsewhere in York Minster, children have had a chance to contribute imagery for the ages. After an electric set fire to the roof of the South Transept, the British children's television show, Blue Peter, invited its audience to contribute designs for bosses in the new ceiling. Six were selected and can be spotted by the eagle-eyed - or with binoculars, I suppose - in the ceiling, about 88 feet above. One of them shows Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon. More about the Minster masons and stone carvers from the BBC
