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Westminster Abbey (church) |
Coordinates: |
| Lat: 51 30 00 N degrees minutes |
Lat: 51.5000 decimal degrees |
| Long: 000 07 00 W degrees minutes |
Long: -0.1167 decimal degrees |
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Note: Church located just west of the Houses of Parliament on the grounds of a former Benedictine monastery. It was refounded as the Collegiate Church of St. Peter in Westminster by Queen Elizabeth I in 1560. In 1245 King Henry III pulled down (except the nave) an earlier version of the church built by Edward the Confessoran and replaced it with the present structure. It was built in the pointed Gothic style of the period, and its design and plan were heavily influenced by contemporary French cathedral architecture.The nave was rebuilt under the architect Henry Yevele in the late 1300s and continued intermittently until the Tudor period. The Early English Gothic design of Henry III's time predominates, however, giving the entire church the appearance of having been built all at once. Henry VII's chapel (begun ca. 1503), built in Perpendicular Gothic style, is famed for its fan vaulting. The western towers, the last addition, were built by Nicholas Hawksmoor (finished ca. 1745). Damage incurred during World War II was reversed during restorations soon after. It is the site of coronations and other ceremonies of national significance. Tombs of famous British subjects here include those of Geoffrey Chaucer, Ben Jonson, Sir Isaac Newton, and Robert Browning. Westminster Abbey is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site designated in 1987 (along with St. Margaret's Church and the Houses of Parliament). |
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London (inhabited place) (P) |
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