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90-559: The style spread across Europe, where it was used in the most prestigious churches; the high altar of Westminster Abbey , for example, is decorated with a Cosmatesque marble floor. The Cosmatesque style takes its name from the family of the Cosmati , which flourished in Rome during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and practiced the art of mosaic. The Cosmati's work is peculiar in that it consists of glass mosaic in combination with marble. At times it

180-422: A cruciform floorplan. The master stonemason for the project was Leofsi Duddason, with Godwin and Wendelburh Gretsyd (meaning "fat purse") as patrons, and Teinfrith as "churchwright", probably meaning someone who worked on the carpentry and roofing. Endowments from Edward supported a community that increased from a dozen monks during Dunstan 's time, to as many as 80. The building was completed around 1060 and

270-512: A gibbet at Tyburn . In 1669, the abbey was visited by the diarist Samuel Pepys , who saw the body of the 15th-century queen Catherine de Valois . She had been buried in the 13th-century Lady chapel in 1437, but was exhumed during building work for the Henry VII Chapel and not reburied in the intervening 150 years. Pepys leaned into the coffin and kissed her on the mouth, writing "This was my birthday, thirty-six years old and I did first kiss

360-508: A Little Cloister, on the site of the monks' infirmary. The Little Cloister dates from the end of the 17th century and contains a small garden with a fountain in the centre. A passageway from the Little Cloister leads to College Garden , which has been in continuous use for 900 years, beginning as the medicine garden for the monks of the abbey and now overlooked by canons' houses and the dormitory for Westminster School . The newest part of

450-494: A bomb that fell outside the chapel. No one was killed, and the abbey continued to hold services throughout the war. When hostilities ceased, evacuated objects were returned to the abbey, 60,000 sandbags were moved out, and a new permanent roof was built over the crossing. Two different designs for a narthex (entrance hall) for the west front were produced by architects Edwin Lutyens and Edward Maufe during World War II, but neither

540-544: A chosen pattern. Unlike tessellated mosaic techniques, where the placement of very small uniformly sized pieces forms a picture, opus sectile pieces are much larger and can be shaped to define large parts of the design. The term opus sectile was introduced in recent centuries, but the Romans used the term sectilia pavimenta . Early examples have been found from Egypt and Asia Minor . The Herodian Temple in Jerusalem

630-444: A jawbone which was taken by a boy from Westminster School and kept by his family until 1906, when it was returned to the abbey. In the 1830s, the screen dividing the nave from the choir, which had been designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, was replaced by one designed by Edward Blore . The screen contains the monuments to the scientist Isaac Newton and the military general James Stanhope . Further rebuilding and restoration occurred in

720-410: A lantern tower was never built. The current squat pyramid dates from the 18th century; the painted wooden ceiling below it was installed during repairs to World War II bomb damage. In the early 16th century, a project began under Abbot John Islip to add two towers to the western end of the church. These had been partially built up to roof level when building work stopped due to uncertainty caused by

810-550: A monastic and royal treasury. The outer walls and circular piers also date to the 11th century; several capitals were enriched in the 12th century, and the stone altar was added in the 13th century. The term pyx refers to the boxwood chest in which coins were held and presented to a jury during the Trial of the Pyx , when newly minted coins were presented to ensure they conformed to the required standards. The chapter house and Pyx Chamber are in

900-538: A precursor to the House of Commons . Henry III also commissioned the Cosmati pavement in front of the High Altar. Further work produced an additional five bays for the nave, bringing it to one bay west of the choir . Here, construction stopped in about 1269. By 1261, Henry had spent £29,345 19s 8d on the abbey, and the final sum may have been near £50,000. A consecration ceremony was held on 13   October 1269, during which

990-499: A queen." She has since been re-interred close to her husband, Henry V. In 1685, during preparations for the coronation of James II , a workman accidentally put a scaffolding pole through the coffin of Edward the Confessor. A chorister, Charles Taylour, pulled a cross on a chain out of the coffin and gave it to the king, who then gave it to the Pope. Its whereabouts are unknown. At the end of

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1080-611: A series of fourth-century CE panels in glass opus sectile , found in a possible sanctuary of Isis at the eastern Corinthian port of Kenchreai , in excavations carried out in the 1960s; they include scenes of famous authors like Homer and Plato , scenes of Nilotic landscapes , harbour-front cities and geometric panels. Although the technique died in Rome with the decline of the Empire, it continued to be used prominently in Byzantine churches, primarily in floor designs. From Byzantium it

1170-460: A service of evening prayer with archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams . On 29   April 2011, the abbey hosted the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton . In 2018, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries were opened. Located in the medieval triforium , high up around the sanctuary, they are areas for displaying the abbey's treasures. A new Gothic access tower with a lift was designed by

1260-521: A short, square, eastern end (as was the English fashion), Westminster Abbey has a long, rounded apse , and it also has chapels radiating from the ambulatory, which is typical of a French Gothic style. However, there are also distinctively English elements, such as the use of materials of contrasting colours, as with the Purbeck marble and white stone in the crossing. The northern entrance has three porches, with

1350-715: A while, but early in his career developed an original style. Freeing himself from Byzantine traditions and influences, Laurentius' style evolved into a decorative architectural mosaic, vigorous in colour and design, which he employed in conjunction with plain or sculpted marble surfaces. "As a rule he used white or light-coloured marbles for his backgrounds; these he inlaid with squares, parallelograms, and circles of darker marble, porphyry, or serpentine , surrounding them with ribbons of mosaic composed of coloured and gold-glass tesseræ. These harlequinads he separated one from another with marble mouldings, carvings, and flat bands, and further enriched them with mosaic. His earliest recorded work

1440-655: A woman chained herself to her chair during a sermon by the Archbishop of Canterbury . On 11   June 1914, a bomb planted by suffragettes of the Women's Social and Political Union exploded inside the abbey. No serious injuries were reported, but the bomb blew off a corner of the Coronation Chair. It also caused the Stone of Scone to break in half, although this was not discovered until 1950 when four Scottish nationalists broke into

1530-450: Is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster , London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British monarchs and a burial site for 18 English, Scottish, and British monarchs. At least 16 royal weddings have taken place at the abbey since 1100. Although the origins of the church are obscure, an abbey housing Benedictine monks was on the site by

1620-403: Is chiefly built in a Geometric Gothic style, using Reigate stone for facings. The church has an eleven-bay nave with aisles , transepts , and a chancel with ambulatory and radiating chapels . The building is supported with two tiers of flying buttresses . The western end of the nave and the west front were designed by Henry Yevele in a Perpendicular Gothic style. The Henry VII Chapel

1710-514: Is closed to the public, except for special events. The abbey includes side chapels radiating from the ambulatory. Many were originally included in the 13th-century rebuilding as altars dedicated to individual saints, and many of the chapels still bear saints' names (such as St Nicholas and St Paul). Saints' cults were no longer orthodox after the English Reformation, and the chapels were repurposed as places for extra burials and monuments. In

1800-671: Is found in the Cappella Palatina in Palermo . Precisely what its connection may be with the southern art of Sicily has yet to be determined. Although the Cosmati of 12th Century Rome are the eponymous craftsmen of the style, they do not seem to have been the first to develop the art. A similar style may be seen in the pavement of the Benedictine abbey of Monte Cassino (1066–1071), built using workers from Constantinople , making it likely that

1890-525: Is in the Bayeux Tapestry . The foundations still survive under the present church, and above ground, some of the lower parts of the monastic dormitory survive in the undercroft , including a door said to come from the previous Anglo-Saxon abbey. It was a little smaller than the current church, with a central tower. In 1103, thirty-seven years after his death, Edward's tomb was re-opened by Abbot Gilbert Crispin and Henry I , who discovered that his body

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1980-493: Is inlaid on the white marble architraves of doors, on the friezes of cloisters , the flutings of columns, and on sepulchral monuments. Again, it frames panels, of porphyry or marble, on pulpits, episcopal chairs , screens, etc., or is itself used as a panel. The colour is brilliant, gold tesserae being freely used. While more frequent in Rome than elsewhere in Italy, its use is not confined to that city. Among other locations it

2070-524: Is the only major English saint whose body still occupies his shrine. Arranged around him in a horseshoe shape are a series of tombs of medieval kings and their queens: Henry III, Eleanor of Castile , Edward I, Philippa of Hainault , Edward III , Anne of Bohemia , and Richard II. Henry V is in the centre of the horseshoe, at the eastern end. Henry III's tomb was originally covered with pieces of coloured glass and stone, since picked off by generations of tourists. Above Henry V's tomb, at mezzanine level over

2160-517: The English Reformation . In the 1530s, Henry VIII broke away from the authority of the Catholic Church in Rome and seized control of England's monasteries , including Westminster Abbey, beginning the English Reformation . In 1535, when the king's officers assessed the abbey's funds, their annual income was £3,000. Henry's agents removed many relics, saints' images, and treasures from

2250-452: The Palace of Westminster and St Margaret's Church became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987 because of their historic and symbolic significance. The church's Gothic architecture is chiefly inspired by 13th-century French and English styles, although some sections of the church have earlier Romanesque styles or later Baroque and modern styles. The Henry VII Chapel , at the east end of

2340-500: The Public Record Office in 1863. It was restored by George Gilbert Scott in the 19th century. The entrance is approached from the east cloister via outer and inner vestibules , and the ceiling becomes higher as a visitor approaches the chapter house. It is an octagonal room with a central pillar, built with a small crypt below. Around the sides are benches for 80 monks, above which are large stained-glass windows depicting

2430-512: The River Thames had a vision of Saint Peter near the site. This seems to have been quoted as the origin of the salmon that Thames fishermen offered to the abbey, a custom still observed annually by the Fishmongers' Company . The origins of the abbey are generally thought to date to about 959, when Dunstan and King Edgar installed a community of Benedictine monks on the site. At that time,

2520-667: The Sistine Chapel and the Stanza della Segnatura at the Vatican . Outside Rome, Tivoli , Subiaco , Anagni , Ferentino , Terracina and Tarquinia contain remarkable cosmatesque works. Also, Cosmati built innovative decoration for the Cathedral of Civita Castellana . Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey , formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster ,

2610-412: The ambulatory , is a chantry chapel built by mason John Thirske and decorated with many sculpted figures (including Henry V riding a horse and being crowned in the abbey). At the western end, the shrine is separated from the main church by a stone reredos which makes it a semi-private space. The reredos depicts episodes from Edward's life, including his birth and the building of the abbey. The shrine

2700-600: The cathedral of Civita Castellana , a foreshadowing of the Renaissance. This was a work in which other members of his family took part, and they were all followers of the craft for four generations. Those attaining eminence in their art are named in the following genealogical epitome: Laurentius (1140–1210); Jacobus (1165–1234); Luca (1221–1240); Jacobus (1213–1293); Deodatus (1225–1294); Johannes (1231–1303)." However, an apparently 12th-century Crusader -period vertical high altar panel in what has been described as Cosmatesque style

2790-411: The refectory , and the east to the chapter house and dormitory. In the southwest corner of the cloisters is a cellarium formerly used by the monks to store food and wine; in modern times, it is the abbey café. The north cloister and northern end of the east cloister, closest to the church, are the oldest; they date to c.  1250 , whereas the rest are from 1352 to 1366. The abbey also contains

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2880-474: The transepts were designed to be unusually long and the choir was placed east (rather than west) of the crossing; this is also seen in Rheims Cathedral . The 13th-century interior would have been painted in bright colours and gilded, although the piers would have been left unpainted. Although the nave was built over the course of centuries from the east to the west end, generations of builders stuck to

2970-456: The 17th century, the architect Christopher Wren was appointed the abbey's first Surveyor of the Fabric . He began a project to restore the exterior of the church, which was continued by his successor, William Dickinson . After over two hundred years, the abbey's two western towers were built in the 1740s in a Gothic– Baroque style by Nicholas Hawksmoor and John James . On 11 November 1760,

3060-531: The 19th century under the architect George Gilbert Scott , who rebuilt sections of the chapter house and north porches, and designed a new altar and reredos for the crossing. His successor, J. L. Pearson , finished the work on the north porches and also reconstructed the northern rose window. The abbey saw "Prayers For Prisoners" suffragette protests in 1913 and 1914. Protesters attended services and interrupted proceedings by chanting "God Save Mrs Pankhurst " and praying for suffragette prisoners. In one protest,

3150-579: The Catholic Mary I , but they were again ejected under Elizabeth I in 1559. In 1560, Elizabeth re-established Westminster as a " royal peculiar " – a church of the Church of England responsible directly to the sovereign, rather than to a diocesan bishop – and made it the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter, a non-cathedral church with an attached chapter of canons, headed by a dean. From that date onwards,

3240-452: The Dean and Chapter announced that, "after a considerable amount of preliminary and exploratory work", efforts toward the construction of a corona would not be continued. The Cosmati pavement underwent a major cleaning and restoration programme for two years, beginning in 2008. On 17   September 2010, Pope Benedict XVI became the first pope to set foot in the abbey when he participated in

3330-509: The English Gothic style favours large and elaborate towers, while Westminster Abbey did not have any towers until the 18th century. It is also more similar to French churches than English ones in terms of its ratio of height to width: Westminster Abbey has the highest nave of any Gothic church in England, and the nave is much narrower than any medieval English church of a similar height. Instead of

3420-551: The Roses , Elizabeth Woodville , the wife of Edward IV , took sanctuary at Westminster Abbey while her husband was deposed, and gave birth to Edward V in the abbot's house. In 1495, building work finally reached the end of the nave, finishing with the west window. Under Henry VII , the 13th-century Lady chapel was demolished and rebuilt in a Perpendicular Gothic style ; it is known as the Henry VII Chapel . Work began in 1503 and

3510-593: The abbey architect and Surveyor of the Fabric, Ptolemy Dean . In 2020, a 13th-century sacristy was uncovered in the grounds of the abbey as part of an archaeological excavation. The sacristy was used by the monks of the abbey to store objects used in Mass , such as vestments and chalices . Also on the site were hundreds of buried bodies, mostly of abbey monks. On 10 March 2021, a vaccination centre opened in Poets' Corner to administer doses of COVID-19 vaccines . The building

3600-457: The abbey as a "National Valhalla ". Historians agree that there was a monastery dedicated to Saint Peter on the site prior to the 11th century, though its exact origin is somewhat obscure. One legend claims that it was founded by the Saxon king Sæberht of Essex , and another claims that its founder was the fictional 2nd-century British king Lucius . One tradition claims that a young fisherman on

3690-505: The abbey at the outbreak of war, and were replaced by priests loyal to Parliament. The abbey itself suffered damage during the war; altars, stained glass, the organ, and the Crown Jewels were damaged or destroyed. Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell was given an elaborate funeral there in 1658, only for a body thought to be Cromwell's to be disinterred in January 1661 and posthumously hanged from

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3780-488: The abbey is the Weston Tower, finished in 2018 and designed by Ptolemy Dean . It sits between the chapter house and the Henry VII Chapel, and contains a lift shaft and spiral staircase to allow public access to the triforium, which contains the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries. The tower has a star-shaped floorplan and leaded windows with an elaborate crown rooftop. The lift shaft inside is faced with 16 kinds of stone from

3870-541: The abbey owned estates across southeast England, including in Middlesex , Hertfordshire , Essex , Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire . The abbot was also the lord of the manor in Westminster, as a town of two to three thousand people grew around the abbey. As a consumer and employer on a grand scale, the abbey helped fuel the town's economy, and relations with the town remained unusually cordial, but no enfranchising charter

3960-603: The abbey was officially granted exemption from the Bishop of London 's jurisdiction, making it answerable only to the head of the Church itself. By this time, the abbey owned a large swath of land around it, from modern-day Oxford Street to the Thames, plus entire parishes in the City of London , such as St Alban, Wood Street and St Magnus the Martyr , as well as several wharfs. Outside London,

4050-470: The abbey's history, including Purbeck marble, Reigate stone, and Portland stone . The project took five years and cost £22.9   million. The galleries were designed by McInnes Usher McKnight. The church's interior has Purbeck marble piers and shafting. The roof vaulting is quadripartite, with ridge ribs and bosses and, at 102 feet (31 m), it is one of Britain's highest church vaults. To accommodate as many guests as possible during coronations,

4140-461: The abbey's own fire-watchers were able to stop the fire spreading to the whole of the church, the deanery and three residences of abbey clergy and staff were badly damaged, and the lantern tower above the crossing collapsed, leaving the abbey open to the sky. The cost of the damage was estimated at £135,000. Some damage can still be seen in the RAF Chapel , where a small hole in the wall was created by

4230-439: The abbey. The golden feretory that housed the coffin of Edward the Confessor was melted down, and monks hid his bones to save them from destruction. The monastery was dissolved and the building became the cathedral for the newly created Diocese of Westminster . The abbot, William Benson, became dean of the cathedral, while the prior and five of the monks were among the twelve newly created canons . The Westminster diocese

4320-459: The abbot at Westminster Abbey. In 1303, the small crypt underneath the chapter house was broken into and a great deal of the king's treasure was stolen. It was thought that the thieves must have been helped by the abbey monks, fifty of whom were subsequently imprisoned in the Tower of London . From 1376, Abbot Nicholas Litlyngton and Richard II donated large sums to finish the church. The remainder of

4410-509: The building was simply a church, though it was still called an abbey. Elizabeth also re-founded Westminster School , providing for 40 students (the King's (or Queen's) Scholars ) and their schoolmasters. The King's Scholars have the duty of shouting Vivat Rex or Vivat Regina ("Long live the King/Queen") during the coronation of a new monarch. In the modern day, the dean of Westminster Abbey remains

4500-493: The central one featuring an elaborately-carved tympanum , leading it to acquire the nickname " Solomon 's porch" as a reference to the legendary temple in Jerusalem . The abbey retains its 13th- and 14th-century cloisters , which would have been one of the busiest parts of the church when it was part of a monastery. The west cloister was used for the teaching of novice monks, the north for private study. The south cloister led to

4590-658: The chair of the school governors. In the early 17th century, the abbey hosted two of the six companies of churchmen who produced the King James Version of the Bible. They used the Jerusalem Chamber in the abbey for their meetings. The First Company was headed by the dean of the abbey, Lancelot Andrewes . In 1642, the English Civil War broke out between Charles I and his own parliament . The Dean and Chapter fled

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4680-401: The church had existed prior to 1600). In June 2009, the first major building work in 250 years was proposed. A corona – a crown-like architectural feature – was suggested to be built around the lantern over the central crossing, replacing an existing pyramidal structure dating from the 1950s. This was part of a wider £23-million development of the abbey completed in 2013. On 4 August 2010,

4770-554: The church to steal the stone and return it to Scotland. In preparation for bombing raids during World War II , the Coronation Chair and many of the abbey's records were moved out of the city, and the Stone of Scone was buried. In 1941, on the night of 10   May and the early morning of 11   May, the Westminster Abbey precincts and roof were hit by incendiary bombs. Although the Auxiliary Fire Service and

4860-560: The church, is a typical example of Perpendicular Gothic architecture; antiquarian John Leland called it orbis miraculum ("the wonder of the world"). The abbey is the burial site of more than 3,300 people , many prominent in British history: monarchs, prime ministers , poets laureate , actors, musicians, scientists, military leaders, and the Unknown Warrior . Due to the fame of the figures buried there, artist William Morris described

4950-536: The coats of arms of several monarchs and the abbey's patrons and abbots. The exterior includes flying buttresses (added in the 14th century) and a leaded roof designed by Scott. The interior walls of the chapter house are decorated with 14th- and 15th-century paintings of the Apocalypse , the Last Judgement , and birds and animals. The chapter house also has an original, mid-13th-century tiled floor. A wooden door in

5040-452: The earliest of an English king, on display near the west door. Building work was not fully complete for many years. Henry V , disappointed with the abbey's unfinished state, gave extra funds towards the rebuilding. In his will, he left instructions for a chantry chapel to be built over his tomb; the chapel can be seen from ground level. Between 1470 and 1471, because of fallout from the Wars of

5130-459: The eastern aisle of the north transept are named after (from south to north) St John the Evangelist, St Michael, and St Andrew. The chapels of St Nicholas, St Edmund, and St Benedict are in the south ambulatory. The footprint of the south transept is smaller than the northern one because the 13th-century builders butted against the pre-existing 11th-century cloisters . To make the transepts match,

5220-403: The eastern end of the nave is a large screen separating the nave from the choir, made of 13th-century stone, reworked by Edward Blore in 1834, and with paintwork and gilding by Bower in the 1960s. Behind the main altar is the shrine and tomb of Edward the Confessor . Saints' shrines were once common in English medieval churches, but most were destroyed during the English Reformation and Edward

5310-448: The entire eastern end, the transepts , and the easternmost bay of the nave . The Lady chapel , built from around 1220 at the extreme eastern end, was incorporated into the chevet of the new building. Part of the new building included a rich shrine and chapel to Edward the Confessor, of which the base only still stands. The golden shrine with its jewelled figures no longer exists. 4,000 marks (about £5,800) for this work came from

5400-678: The estate of David of Oxford, the husband of Licoricia of Winchester , and a further £2,500 came from a forced contribution from Licoricia herself, by far the biggest single donation at that time. Around 1253, Henry of Reynes was replaced by John of Gloucester, who was replaced by Robert of Beverley around 1260. During the summer, there were up to 400 workers on the site at a time, including stonecutters, marblers, stone-layers, carpenters, painters and their assistants, marble polishers, smiths, glaziers, plumbers, and general labourers. From 1257, Henry III held assemblies of local representatives in Westminster Abbey's chapter house ; these assemblies were

5490-449: The funeral of George II was held at the abbey, and the king was interred next to his late wife, Caroline of Ansbach . He left instructions for the sides of his and his wife's coffins to be removed so that their remains could mingle. He was the last monarch to be buried in the abbey. Around the same time, the tomb of Richard   II developed a hole through which visitors could put their hands. Several of his bones went missing, including

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5580-415: The geometric style was heavily influenced by Byzantine floor mosaics . However, the technique is distinct because Cosmati floors are made from various shapes and sizes of stone, a property quite different from opus tessellatum mosaics in which the patterns are made from small units which are all the same size and shape. The stone used by the Cosmati artists were often salvaged material (cf. upcycling ) from

5670-478: The guardianship of English Heritage , but under the care and management of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster. Opus sectile Opus sectile is a form of pietra dura popularized in the ancient and medieval Roman world where materials were cut and inlaid into walls and floors to make a picture or pattern. Common materials were marble , mother of pearl , and glass . The materials were cut in thin pieces, polished, then trimmed further according to

5760-415: The later side; the shields on the aisle walls are carved on the earlier side, and painted on the later side. Above the crossing, in the centre of the church, is a roof lantern which was destroyed by a bomb in 1941 and restored by architect Stephen Dykes Bower in 1958. In the choir aisles, shields of donors to the 13th- and 14th-century rebuilding are carved and painted in the spandrels of the arcade . At

5850-462: The location was an island in the Thames called Thorney Island . This building has not survived, but archaeologists have found some pottery and foundations from this period on the abbey site. Between 1042 and 1052, Edward the Confessor began rebuilding Saint Peter's Abbey to provide himself with a royal burial church. It was built in the Romanesque style and was the first church in England built on

5940-407: The main structure was completed by 1509, although decorative work continued for several years afterwards. Henry's original reason for building such a grand chapel was to have a place suitable for the burial of another saint alongside the Confessor, as he planned on having Henry VI canonised. The Pope asked Henry VII for a large sum of money to proclaim Henry VI a saint; Henry VII was unwilling to pay

6030-404: The mid-10th century. The church got its first large building from the 1040s, commissioned by King Edward the Confessor , who is buried inside. Construction of the present church began in 1245 on the orders of Henry III . The monastery was dissolved in 1559, and the church was made a royal peculiar – a Church of England church, accountable directly to the sovereign – by Elizabeth I . The abbey,

6120-719: The more complex execution. Hence these first examples are limited to imperial properties, such as the villa of Livia at Prima Porta and those of Tiberius on Capri . Recent work by the Temple Mount Sifting Project has recovered enough pieces of polished stone triangles and squares from the Herodian Temple Mount to reconstruct geometric patterns of opus sectile flooring. Evidence for geometric opus sectile floors also comes from Herodian palaces at Cypros, Caesarea Maritima, Herodium, Jericho, Machaerus, Masada, and from Herodian construction at Banias , where

6210-744: The north ambulatory are the Islip Chapel, the Nurses' Memorial Chapel (sometimes called the Nightingale Chapel), the Chapel of Our Lady of the Pew, the Chapel of St John the Baptist, and St Paul's Chapel. The Islip Chapel is named after Abbot John Islip , who commissioned it in the 16th century. The screen inside is decorated with a visual pun on his name: an eye and a boy falling from a tree (eye-slip). Additional chapels in

6300-486: The old nave was pulled down and rebuilding commenced, with his mason Henry Yevele closely following the original design even though it was now more than 100 years out of date. During the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, Richard prayed at Edward the Confessor's shrine for "divine aid when human counsel was altogether wanting" before meeting the rebels at Smithfield . In the modern day, the abbey holds Richard's full-length portrait,

6390-524: The opus sectile consisted of octagons, squares, and triangles. The most prominent artefacts remain from 4th-century Rome. A large set from the Basilica of Junius Bassus survived, depicting an elaborate chariot and other images. The popularity of opus sectile decoration continued in Rome through the 6th century, and affected areas as far as Constantinople (now Istanbul in Turkey). Particularly remarkable are

6480-428: The original design and it has a unified style. Markers of the long gap in building between 1269 and 1376 are relatively minor, but can be seen at the fifth bay from the crossing. The spandrels above the arches are towards the earlier east end are decorated with diaper-work , and are plain towards the (later) west end. The lancet windows on the earlier side have a foiled circle, and have an unencircled quatrefoil on

6570-793: The pavements of medieval Roman churches and even in Renaissance times, as, for instance, on the pavements of the Sistine Chapel and the Stanza della Segnatura . Among the churches decorated in cosmatesque style in Rome, the most noteworthy are Santa Maria in Trastevere , St. John Lateran , San Lorenzo fuori le Mura , San Saba , San Paolo fuori le Mura , Santa Maria in Aracoeli , Santa Maria in Cosmedin , Santa Maria Maggiore , San Crisogono , San Clemente , Santa Prassede , Santa Croce in Gerusalemme , and

6660-434: The picture from Spoleto (right side) below, whereas opus sectile also includes figurative designs made in the same technique. Opus alexandrinum is another form of opus sectile , where only a few colours are used, such as white and black, or dark green on a red ground, or vice versa. This term is particularly employed to designate a species of geometrical mosaic, found in combination with large slabs of marble, much used on

6750-546: The remains of Edward the Confessor were moved to their present location at the shrine behind the main altar. After Henry's death and burial in the abbey in 1272, construction did not resume and Edward the Confessor's old Romanesque nave remained attached to the new building for over a century. In 1296, Edward I captured the Scottish coronation stone, the Stone of Scone . He had a Coronation Chair made to hold it, which he entrusted to

6840-576: The ruins of ancient Roman buildings, the large roundels being the carefully cut cross sections of Roman columns . According to the Catholic Encyclopedia , this style of inlaid ornamental mosaic was "introduced into the decorative art of Europe during the twelfth century by a marble-worker named Laurentius [also known as "Lorenzo Cosmati"], a native of Anagni, a small hill-town sixty kilometres east-south-east of Rome. Laurentius acquired his craft from Greek masters and followed their method of work for

6930-427: The south transept overhangs the western cloister; this permitted a room above the cloisters which was used to store the abbey muniments . In the south transept is the chapel of St Faith , built c.  1250 as the vestry for the abbey's monks. On the east wall is a c.  1290  – c.  1310 painting of St Faith holding the grid-iron on which she was roasted to death. The octagonal chapter house

7020-431: The sum, and so instead he is buried in the centre of the chapel with his wife, Elizabeth of York , rather than a large raised shrine like the Confessor. A view of the abbey dated 1532 shows a lantern tower above the crossing , but this is not shown in any later depiction. It is unlikely that the loss of this feature was caused by any catastrophic event: structural failure seems more likely. Other sources maintain that

7110-504: The vestibule, made with a tree felled between 1032 and 1064, is one of Britain's oldest. It may have been the door to the 11th-century chapter house in Edward the Confessor's abbey, and was re-used as the door to the Pyx Chamber in the 13th century. It now leads to an office. The adjoining Pyx Chamber was the undercroft of the monks' dormitory. Dating to the late 11th century, it was used as

7200-466: Was consecrated on 28   December 1065, about a week before Edward's death on 5   January 1066. A week later, he was buried in the church; nine years later, his wife Edith was buried alongside him. His successor, Harold Godwinson , was probably crowned here, although the first documented coronation is that of William the Conqueror later that year. The only extant depiction of Edward's abbey

7290-513: Was built during the second half of the 1st century BC and the first half of the 1st century AD. It spread to Rome in the first decades of the 1st c. BC when "stone slab floors came into use, at least in the smaller element type". Under Augustus, its use in the flooring of public buildings began. The success of the first experiments on a monumental scale led to its application in the private sector, where decorative schemes with smaller marble sections were perfected, but which were very expensive due to

7380-599: Was built in a late Perpendicular style in Huddlestone stone, probably by Robert and William Vertue . The west towers were designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor and blend the Gothic style of the abbey with the Baroque style fashionable during his lifetime. The modern Westminster Abbey is largely based on French Gothic styles, especially those found at Reims Cathedral , rather than the contemporaneous English Gothic styles. For example,

7470-402: Was built. Because of its outstanding universal value, the abbey was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, together with the nearby Palace of Westminster and St Margaret's Church . In 1997, the abbey, which was then receiving approximately 1.75 million visitors each year, began charging admission fees to visitors at the door (although a fee for entering the eastern half of

7560-450: Was dissolved in 1550, but the abbey was recognised (in 1552, retroactively to 1550) as a second cathedral of the Diocese of London until 1556. Money meant for the abbey, which is dedicated to St Peter, was diverted to the treasury of St Paul's Cathedral ; this led to an association with the already-old saying " robbing Peter to pay Paul ". The abbey saw the return of Benedictine monks under

7650-579: Was eventually brought back to Sicily and the Italian mainland, in the 12th century as the Cosmatesque style, concentrating on geometric patterns. It is featured at the basilica San Miniato al Monte that overlooks Florence. There was a major revival from the Italian Renaissance (14th–17th century) in the form of pietra dura work, although this normally consists of much smaller compositions and it

7740-407: Was executed for a church at Fabieri in 1190, and the earliest existing example is to be seen in the church of Ara Coeli at Rome. It consists of an epistle and gospel ambo, a chair, screen, and pavement. "In much of his work he was assisted by his son, Jacobus, who was not only a sculptor and mosaic-worker, but also an architect of ability, as witness the architectural alterations carried out by him in

7830-636: Was issued during the Middle Ages . Westminster Abbey continued to be used as a coronation site, but after Edward the Confessor, no monarchs were buried there until Henry III began to rebuild it in the Gothic style . Henry III wanted it built as a shrine to venerate Edward, to match great French churches such as Rheims Cathedral and Sainte-Chapelle , and as a burial place for himself and his family. Construction began on 6   July 1245 under Henry's master mason, Henry of Reynes. The first building stage included

7920-633: Was rediscovered in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, which stood under Crusader rule until 1187, and then again at times during the 13th century. Cosmatesque work is also known as opus alexandrinum . Definitions of this term, and the distinction between it and opus sectile , vary somewhat. Some restrict opus alexandrinum to the typical large designs, especially for floors, using white guilloche patterns filled in with roundels and bands in coloured designs using small pieces. Others include any geometric design including large pieces, as in

8010-435: Was still in perfect condition. This was considered proof of his saintliness, and he was canonised in 1161. Two years later he was moved to a new shrine, during which time his ring was removed and placed in the abbey's collection. The abbey became more closely associated with royalty from the second half of the 12th century, as kings increasingly used the nearby Palace of Westminster as the seat of their governments. In 1222,

8100-503: Was used by the abbey monks for daily meetings, where they would hear a chapter of the Rule of St Benedict and receive their instructions for the day from the abbot. The chapter house was built between 1250 and 1259 and is one of the largest in Britain, measuring nearly 60 feet (18 m) across. For 300 years after the English Reformation, it was used to store state records until they were moved to

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