Historic Tiffany window returns to Chicago’s Second Presbyterian Church

CHICAGO - Parishioners at Second Presbyterian Church in Chicago will be met with a stunning surprise when they attend services this week.

After being gone for more than a year, a Tiffany stained-glass window is back at the church.

The window was designed by the great Louis Comfort Tiffany in 1902 and has been at the Second Presbyterian Church since then.

The church itself is a national historical landmark, and the Tiffany windows are just part of what makes it special.

This window is a unique balcony window that stands over 16 feet high and is made up of 18 panels and thousands of individual pieces of glass. Because it has been there since the turn of the century, it was dirty and needed to be restored.

The group "Friends of Historic Second Church" received a donation in honor of the late Chicago philanthropist Richard Driehaus.

As a result, they were able to return the stunning window to its original glory at a cost of $555,000.

The window depicts an actual scene in the state of Colorado and is called Mount of the Holy Cross.

It will take several days to restore all the panels, so scaffolding will be up until mid-August. But once it's finished, it promises to be a stunning revitalization.

This is the second recent restoration at this church. The last one was Tree of Life, which was a mural painted in 1903.