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This is what Borden church looks like after its 150-year-old stained-glass window of Christ's crucifixion has been returned.
A team from specialist firm AuraVisions spent three days re-installing the Clutterbuck window which had been taken out during the Second World War for safe keeping. The church near Sittingbourne has reopened now that scaffolding has been removed.
Priest in charge Father Robert Lane said: "We are pleased to say that the works to reinstate the east window are now complete and the window is back in its rightful home. The church was reopened on Friday at 10am for private prayer and viewings of the window."
After it was removed in 1944 the window was kept at St Peter and St Paul’s church until 1992 when the parochial church council asked Canterbury Cathedral for advice on storing it.
Dr Sebastian Strobl, head of the cathedral's stained glass studio, offered space in his department’s strong room to avoid damage.
In 2012, the Friends of Borden Church launched an appeal to reinstate the window and the cathedral's studio produced a virtual reconstruction using image manipulating software Photoshop to help and carried out further research into the widow's history.
Cathedral spokesman Nathan Crouch said: "Unfortunately, there was not enough support for the project so the glass was still without a permanent home. The Cathedral did not ask for, or receive, any payment to cover our costs for research, photography, and storage."
He denied the cathedral had threatened to "break it up and use it for spare parts" as previously reported.
He said: "That would contravene our professional code of practice. Instead, after the parish had voted against reinstatement in 2012, we continued to look after the stained glass free of charge."
He said in September 2017 Leonie Seliger contacted the church to say the cathedral was in "urgent need of storage" for "other projects".
The church was told: "As much as I would like to provide the Borden window with a permanent refuge, we simply do not have the space any more. We are therefore in the sad position of having to return the nine stained-glass panels to the church."
The glass was packed in a crate and delivered to the church three months later by January 2018, said Mr Crouch.
He denied the cathedral had objected to a Folkestone firm reinstalling the window which was why the job was given to AuraVisions in Essex.
He said: "Canterbury Cathedral was not involved in this decision at all. Instead, the Care of Churches Officer for the Diocese of Canterbury, Edmund Harris, asked Leonie to comment on proposals submitted by St Peter and St Paul’s Church as part of their application for faculty to restore this window.
"The parish never requested a quote from the Cathedral for the restoration of the window and Leonie’s advice was based purely upon the level of skill required to undertake this project successfully."
The job to restore the window cost the parochial church council £30,000 using donations from parishioners and grants from Friends of Kent Churches and The Cottam Trust.
