Westminster

I was lucky enough to get on a "behind the scenes" tour of Westminster Abbey last week - the chaplain of my college is friends with a Westminster Abbey chaplain so after a group of us attended "evensong" (here is a link to what it sounds like - not sure who made the recording on youtube but our service was nearly the same), we got to stay behind and go into all the chapels/etc that are usually not open to the public.


(loved the boys choir - they were amazing!) 

Probably my favorite part was seeing the exact spot where kings and queens have knelt for their coronations since 1269...what?! Here is the spot -- that white circle in the middle is literally where kings and queens have put their knee for hundreds of years. Consequently it is also the spot Prince William and the lovely Duchess of Cambridge were married last year! 

No pictures allowed so here is one from the 'net...an aerial view of the medieval mosaic - it was actually just restored recently just in time for the royal wedding. Constructed throughout the 12th and 13th centuries, this mosaic technique (called cosmati) was very fashionable for the time and was used to decorate other objects like tombs - it was most popular in Italy (these stones were actually transported from Italy) but this is one of the only existing mosaics left in England and definitely the largest, most complex, and most intricate left in existence. And I got to step on it! 

Moving on...behind the gold screen (from first pic) are the tombs of so many kings and queens - the abbey was originally built as a shrine to King Edward. He is the only English king to be canonized as a saint - his tomb and remains are still here! (see pic of his tomb below) 

He died in 1065 and William the Conquerer's coronation was here in 1066 (one of the most significant dates in British history - Norman conquest of England). 

Little remains of that original church from 1066 - the abbey has been added onto over the years with the most significant construction happening in the 16th century. 

Other really interesting parts of the tour were the chapels in the back - my favorite was probably seeing Queen Elizabeth I. She is buried in the same tomb (but on top of) her sister Mary Tudor (known as "Bloody Mary" because, as a Catholic, she burned Protestant heretics during her short reign). Divided during their lifetimes, it is poignant that they are united in death. As one might remember, both were daughters of King Henry VIII but Mary was Catholic, daughter of Catherine of Aragon, and Elizabeth was Protestant, daughter of Anne Boleyn. Here is their tomb -

Really interestingly, the face on Elizabeth's effigy is a death mask, meaning that is what her face looked like at her death. Is it creepy that I find that absolutely fascinating?! She was meticulous about all painted images of herself and because of that, the paintings do not depict a truthful image of her (she was concerned with communicating power, not preserving a likeness of herself) so seeing this is like an authentic glimpse into the past. 

After this we saw a few other chapels containing the remains of Mary Queen of Scots and King Richard II (funny moment - I was with a friend on the tour who studies theatre and he said he was in the middle of memorizing the monologue for Shakespeare's Richard II - it was a fitting moment for him to be able to visit the tomb the week he would perform his part)...and we also stopped by tombs for Isaac Newton, Darwin, and the myriad of poets, playwrights, artists, and wealthy members of the aristocracy along the way out. All in all, such a great opportunity. The chaplain was kind enough to offer to let any of us come back if we wanted to study some things in more detail - some of the effigies are by very famous sculptors so I might take him up on the offer for an art history lesson!