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Westminster Abbey – Virtual Tour

Westminster Abbey - Virtual Tour

Westminster Abbey – Virtual Tour

Westminster Abbey is a large Gothic Abbey Church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronations and burial site for the English and later, British monarchs.

Since the coronation of William the Conqueror in 1066, all coronations of English and British monarchs have been in Westminster Abbey.

According to a tradition, a church was founded at the site in the seventh century. Construction of the present church began in 1245, on the orders of King Henry III.

The building itself was a Benedictine monastic church until the monastery was dissolved in 1539. Between 1540 and 1556, the abbey had the status of a cathedral.

Since 1560, the building is no longer an abbey or a cathedral, having instead the status of a Church of England “Royal Peculiar,” a church responsible directly to the sovereign.

There have been 16 royal weddings at the abbey since 1100. It is also the burial site of more than 3,300 persons of prominence in British history.

Westminster Abbey - Virtual Tour

West facade of the Westminster Abbey

Highlights of Westminster Abbey

  • King Edward’s Chair
  • The Cloister
  • Chapter House – built between about 1245 and 1253
  • The Royal Tombs – sixteen monarchs
  • Westminster Abbey Museum
  • Burial site of more than 3,300 persons, usually of prominence in British history
  • Lady Chapel – a memorial chapel to the airmen of the Royal Air Force who were killed in the Second World War
  • Poets’ Corner – poets, writers, and musicians were buried or memorialized around Chaucer’s burial site
  • Scientists Memorials –  such as Isaac Newton, buried in 1727, Charles Darwin, buried in 1882, and Stephen Hawking, ashes interred in 2018
  • Politician’s Memorials – William Wilberforce who led the movement to abolish slavery in the United Kingdom and the Plantations, buried in 1833

Westminster Abbey – Map

Westminster Abbey – 360 Virtual Views

Westminster Abbey – 360 Virtual Views

Westminster Abbey

  • Site:                  Westminster Abbey
  • Formally:           The Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster
  • City:                  London
  • Country:            United Kingdom
  • Founded:          960
  • Type:                 Historical Site
  • Denomination: Church of England
  • Nave width:      85 feet (26 m)
  • Floor area:        32,000 square feet (3,000 m2)
  • Towers:             2
  • Tower height:   225 feet (69 m)
  • Bells:                10
  • Location:          20 Deans Yd, Westminster, London, UK

Westminster Abbey – 360 Virtual Views

Westminster Abbey – 360 Virtual Views

Westminster Abbey – 360 Virtual Views

Westminster Abbey – 360 Virtual Views – Chapter House

Westminster Abbey

As the burial site of more than 3,300 persons, usually of prominence in British history, including:

  • sixteen monarchs
  • eight Prime Ministers
  • poet laureates
  • actors
  • scientists
  • military leaders
  • the Unknown Warrior

There have been 16 royal weddings at the abbey since 1100, including:

  • 1100 – King Henry I of England
  • 1243 – Richard, Earl of Cornwall (later King of Germany), brother of King Henry III of England
  • 1269 – Edmund of Crouchback, 1st Earl of Leicester and Lancaster, son of King Henry III
  • 1290 – 7th Earl of Gloucester
  • 1290 – John II, son of Duke of Brabant
  • 1382 – King Richard II of England
  • 1486 – King Henry VII of England
  • 1919 – Captain the Hon. Alexander Ramsay
  • 1922 – Viscount Lascelles
  • 1923 – Prince Albert, Duke of York (later King George VI), second son of King George V
  • 1934 – Prince George, Duke of Kent, son of King George V
  • 1947 – Duke of Edinburgh  and Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth II)
  • 1960 – Antony Armstrong-Jones (later Earl of Snowdon) and Princess Margaret, second daughter of King George VI
  • 1963 – Hon. Angus Ogilvy and Princess Alexandra of Kent
  • 1973 Captain Mark Phillips Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Elizabeth II
  • 1986 Prince Andrew, Duke of York, second son of Queen Elizabeth II
  • 2011 Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, grandson of Queen Elizabeth II

Westminster Abbey – 360 Virtual Views

Westminster Abbey

Explore London’s Museums and Heritage Sites

Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey

~~~

“Before this time to-morrow, I shall have gained a Peerage or Westminster Abbey.”
– Horatio Nelson – before the Battle of the Nile

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Photo Credit: JOM; Paasikivi / CC BY-SA (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

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