Open 9:00am - 6:30pm. Contact 01904 557216. Admission charges apply. York Minster is the mother church for the North of England and the heart of this historic city. The first Minster was built for the baptism of King Edwin of Northumbria in 627. The present building was begun in 1220 and took 252 years to construct. Roman, Saxon, Viking and Norman remains lie within it and beneath it. York Minster is the largest Gothic Cathedral in Northern Europe and inside you will find a treasure house of 800 years of religious art and some of the finest 14th and 15th Century stained glass in the world.