A painstaking restoration job is under way in Nova Scotia, the rebuilding of St. John's Anglican Church, a 250-year-old building that was gutted by fire last year.

Project organizers say they would like to restore the Lunenburg landmark to look just like the original, which had stained glass windows imported from England.

Twelve of the windows were destroyed in the Halloween fire; the other 12 were damaged.




Norbert Sattler, who runs a stained glass studio in LaHave, N.S., won the contract to restore the windows, a job that's expected to take about a year and a half.

For one window, he might use 800 to 1,500 pieces. He says he keeps track of them all with "good bookkeeping."

Norbert Sattler
Norbert Sattler

Sattler's daughter, son and wife help, but for certain stages of the project, they need outside experts, such as Ontario artist Sue Obata.

Working from photos of the original windows, Obata makes drawings that become the blueprints for the new windows.

It's an artistic partnership for Obata and Sattler. They often select the glass together. Then she creates the patterns that he cuts.

Sue Obata
Sue Obata

She paints those pieces, then he fires and refires them and builds the final window.

"It's a lot of work, a lot of work," Obata says. "And we all realize how important this church is to Nova Scotia and the community. And so in that way it's a little bit awesome as well to work on."

St. John's windows will be finished in October 2003. Sattler is planning to drive them to Lunenberg himself to deliver them just the way they were made, with great care.