Westminster Abbeyis a Gothic monastery church in Londonthat is the traditional topographic point of enthronement and entombment for English sovereign. Neither a cathedral nor a parish church, Westminster Abbey is a topographic point of worship owned by the royal household.
Located following to the Houses of Parliament in the bosom of London, Westminster Abbey is a must-see for any London visitant. With its oldest parts dating to the twelvemonth 1050, the Abbey contains some of the most glorious mediaeval architecture in London. Because of its royal connexions, it was spared King Henry VIII ‘s general assault on cloistered edifices during the Reformation.
The inside is a regular museum of English history. Among many high spots are the mediaeval enthronement throne ; Poet ‘s Corner with its commemorations to William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and other giants of literature ; and the grave of Queen Elizabeth I, “ Bloody ” Queen Mary, adventurer David Livingstone and naturalist Charles Darwin.
History
Harmonizing to tradition, a shrine was foremost founded here in 616 on a site so known as Thorney Island. It was said to hold been miraculously consecrated after a fisherman on the River Thames saw a vision of Saint Peter.
While the being of this shrine is unsure, the historic Abbey was built by Edward the Confessor between 1045-1050 and was consecrated on December 28, 1065. Its building originated in Edward ‘s failure to maintain a vow to travel on a pilgrim’s journey ; the Pope suggested that he deliver himself by constructing an Abbey.
The original Abbey, in the Romanesque manner that is called “ Norman ” in England, was built to house Benedictine monks. It was rebuilt in the Gothic manner between 1245-1517. The first stage of the rebuilding was organised by Henry III, in Gothic manner, as a shrine to honour Edward the Confessor and as a appropriately imperial puting for Henry ‘s ain grave, under the highest Gothic nave in England.
The work was mostly finished by the designer Henry Yevele in the reign of King Richard II. Henry VII added a Perpendicular manner chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary in 1503 ( known as the Henry VII Lady Chapel ) .
Although the Abbey was seized by Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1534, and closed in 1540, going a cathedral until 1550, its royal connexions saved it from the devastation wrought on most other English abbeys. The look “ robbing Peter to pay Paul ” may originate from this period when money meant for the Abbey, which was dedicated to St. Peter, was diverted to the exchequer of St. Paul ‘s Cathedral.
It suffered harm during the disruptive 1640s, when it was attacked by Puritan image breakers, but was once more protected by its close ties to the province during the Commonwealth period. Oliver Cromwell was given an luxuriant funeral at that place in 1658, merely to be disinterred in January 1661 and posthumously hanged from a nearby gallows tree.
The Abbey was restored to the Benedictines under Queen Mary, but they were once more ejected under Queen Elizabeth I in 1559. In 1579, Elizabeth re-established Westminster as a “ royal peculiar ” & # 8211 ; a church responsible straight to the crowned head, instead than to a diocesan bishop & # 8211 ; and made it the Collegiate Church of St. Peter, ( i.e. a church with an affiliated chapter of canons, headed by a dean ) . Westminster Abbey is a Gothic monastery church in London that is the traditional topographic point of enthronement and entombment for English sovereign. Neither a cathedral nor a parish church, Westminster Abbey is a topographic point of worship owned by the royal household.
Located following to the Houses of Parliament in the bosom of London, Westminster Abbey is a must-see for any London visitant. With its oldest parts dating to the twelvemonth 1050, the Abbey contains some of the most glorious mediaeval architecture in London. Because of its royal connexions, it was spared King Henry VIII ‘s general assault on cloistered edifices during the Reformation.
The inside is a regular museum of English history. Among many high spots are the mediaeval enthronement throne ; Poet ‘s Corner with its commemorations to William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and other giants of literature ; and the grave of Queen Elizabeth I, “ Bloody ” Queen Mary, adventurer David Livingstone and naturalist Charles Darwin.
What to See What to See
Henry III rebuilt the Abbey in honor of the Royal Saint Edward the Confessor, whose memorial and relics were placed in the Sanctuary. The Shrine of St. Edward the Confessor has been the focal point of pilgrim’s journeies to Westminst
Er Abbey since the Middle Ages.
Henry III was buried nearby as were the Plantagenet male monarchs of England, their married womans and relations. Subsequently, most English male monarchs and Queenss were buried here. However, Henry VIII and Charles I are buried at St. George ‘s Chapel in Windsor Castle, as all royals have been since George II.
Aristocrats were buried in side chapels of Westminster Abbey and monastics and people associated with the Abbey were buried in the religious residences and other countries. One of these was Geoffrey Chaucer, who was buried here as he had flats in the Abbey as he was employed as maestro of the Kings Works.
Other poets were buried around Chaucer in what became known as Poets ‘ Corner. Abbey instrumentalists such as Henry Purcell were besides buried in their topographic point of work. Subsequently it became a great award to be buried or memorialized here. The pattern spread from blue bloods and poets to generals, admirals, politicians, scientists, physicians, and others.
In the Da Vinci Code In the Da Vinci Code
Westminster Abbey is the scene of a climactic scene in Dan Brown ‘s novel The Da Vinci Code. Towards the terminal of the book, Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu eventually figure out ( after a dead-end hunt at the Temple Church and with the aid of the computing machines at King ‘s College London ) that their latest hint & # 8212 ;
In London lies a knight a Pope interred His labour ‘s fruit a Holy wrath incurred & # 8212 ; refers to the grave of Sir Isaac Newton in Westminster Abbey. Newton ‘s eulogium was delivered by Alexander Pope – “ A. Pope ” .
The scene in Westminster Abbey includes some look up toing descriptions of Westminster Abbey and its history, and references of several of import sights of its inside, such as Poet ‘s Corner, Newton ‘s grave, and the Chapter House. The narrative includes this graphic description as the characters enter:
Langdon ‘s and Sophie ‘s eyes, like those of about every visitant, shifted instantly heavenward, where the abbey ‘s great abysm seemed to detonate operating expense. Grey stone columns ascended like redwoods into the shadows, curving gracefully over dizzying sweeps, and so hiting back down to the rock floor. Before them, the broad back street of the north transept stretched out like a deep canon, flanked by sheer drops of stained glass. On cheery yearss, the abbey floor was a prismatic hodgepodge of visible radiation. Today, the rain and darkness gave this monolithic hollow a wraithlike aura… more like that of the crypt it genuinely was.
The grave of Isaac Newton is in a niche on the north side of the nave. The monumental grave is a expansive matter, with lovely sculptures and luxuriant ornaments stand foring his scientific finds. Atop the memorial is a elephantine eyeball with images of planets. The Da Vinci Code ‘s characters are trying to work out the remainder of the conundrum that brought them to Westminster Abbey:
You seek the eyeball that ought to be on his grave It speaks of Rosy flesh and seeded uterus.
Before Robert and Sophie can calculate out the mystifier, they discover a cooling note on the sarcophagus palpebra, following to Newton ‘s outstretched right pes: “ I have Teabing. Go through Chapter House, out south issue, to public garden. ” The note was scrawled utilizing the wood coal pencils provided by the Abbey for visitants to make frictions of the memorials in Poets ‘ Corner.
The abbey ‘s two western towers were built between 1722 and 1745 by Sir Christopher Wren and Nicholas Hawksmoor, constructed from Portland rock to an early illustration of a Gothic Revival design. Further rebuilding and Restoration occurred in the nineteenth century under Sir George Gilbert Scott.
Until the nineteenth century, Westminster was the 3rd place of larning in England, after Oxfordand Cambridge. It was here that the first tierce of the King James Bible Old Testament and the last half of the New Testament were translated. The New English Bible was besides put together here in the twentieth century.
Since the Christmas Day enthronement of William the Conqueror in 1066, all English sovereigns ( except Lady Jane Grey, Edward V and Edward VIII, who did non hold enthronements ) have been crowned in the Abbey. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the traditional churchman in the enthronement ceremonial. St. Edward ‘s Chair, the throne on which British crowned heads are seated at the minute of enthronement, is housed within the Abbey.
Closer to our ain clip, in 1998 10 20th-century Christian sufferer including Deitrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King, Jr. , and Oscar Romero were immortalized in rock statues over the Great West Door.
