Westminster Abbey - a special royal church

Westminster Abbey, located on the north bank of the Thames, near the Parliament building in London, perhaps the most famous of the English monastic complexes, such as Holyrood in Scotland, Escorial in Spain. However, it can be called a historical place rather than a religious one. Since 1066, all coronations of British kings, with the exception of Edward V (was killed) and Edward VIII (abdicated), were held in it. It also serves as the burial vault of many English rulers, politicians, historical figures, cultural figures, aristocrats, monks.

Westminster Abbey is so crowded with statues, monuments, sarcophagi that many coffins are erected in an upright position due to lack of space. A total of 3,300 people were buried, including Jeffrey Chaucer, Henry Purcell, Robert Blake, Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton, Rudyard Kipling, Alfred Tennyson, David Livingston, William Wilberforce, who abolished slavery in the United Kingdom. Since the beginning of the XX century, ever more often people died cremated. The first in this series was the body of the actor-tragedian Sir Henry Irving. Since 1936, no one has ever been buried in a coffin. The only exception is the Dukes of Northumberland, who own their own crypt in the abbey.

The date of the foundation of this historical monument is not exactly defined. So, Bede the Venerable does not mention him, but an early tradition attributes his foundation to Sebert, the king of Essex. At the beginning of the seventh century, with him on the swampy grounds near London, on the ruins of the temple of Apollo, the church of St. Peter was built, on the site of which is now Westminster Abbey. History tells us that it was miraculously sanctified by Saint Peter himself. Of course, this is only a legend, which appeared later, but the fact that the monastery existed at this place in the eighth century, confirms the charter of King Offa. In it, he is called Westminster, apparently to distinguish him from the church of St. Paul. There are also other evidences, in any case, it can be said with full confidence that when Edward the Confessor started the erection of a Romanesque church in 1055 to provide a place for burial on religious rites, there was already an important shrine there, and There was a community of Benedictine monks.

Construction during the life of Edward was not completed (only in 1090), but the lighting took place on December 28, 1065, a week before the death of the king. Until now, the original building has not preserved a trace. Its only image is shown on a tapestry from Bayeux. Westminster Abbey in its current form is largely dated 1245-1272 years. Then Henry III decided to rebuild it in the Gothic style. Later it was expanded: the chapel of Henry VII was added between 1503 and 1512, two western towers were built in 1745, the construction of the northern entrance was completed in the XIX century.

The nave of the abbey, which houses the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, is the highest in England. The body of an unidentified British soldier who was killed during the First World War was buried on November 11, along with a similar burial of a French soldier in the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. These are the first examples of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Westminster Abbey has never been a cathedral (the residence of a bishop), only by what is called the Royal Peculiar ("a special royal church"). The temple is subordinate directly to the British monarch. In addition to this, this status is currently owned by the chapel of St. George in the city of Windsor (Berkshire).

Westminster Abbey, whose presentation is presented in different languages on its own site, also includes a museum where posthumous masks of all generations of the royal family are exhibited, a private garden (Colledge Garden) open to the public on some Tuesdays and Thursdays in the afternoon, A monastery founded in the XIII century. The entrance to most places of the complex is free.