Westminster Abbey

Authors: D.Rebitskyi
A.Poplavskyi
 Westminster Abbey

• Westminster Abbey, formally titled the

Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at
Westminster, is a large, mainly Gothic
abbey church in the City of
Westminster, London, England, just to
the west of the Palace of Westminster.
It is one of the United Kingdom's most
notable religious buildings and the
traditional place of coronation and a
burial site for English and, later, British
monarchs. This is the place where
kings are crowned and burial place of
monarchs of England.
 History

• Between 1042 and 1052, King Edward the Confessor

 began rebuilding St Peter's Abbey to provide himself
with a royal burial church. It was the first church in
England built in the Romanesque style. The building was
completed around 1060 and was consecrated on 28
December 1065, only a week before Edward's death on
5 January 1066.[9] A week later, he was buried in the
church; and, nine years later, his wife Edith was buried
alongside him.[10] His successor, Harold II, was probably
crowned in the abbey, although the first documented
coronation is that of William the Conqueror later the
same year.[11]
• The only extant depiction of Edward's abbey, together
with the adjacent Palace of Westminster, is in the 
Bayeux Tapestry. Some of the lower parts of the
monastic dormitory, an extension of the South Transept,
survive in the Norman Undercroft of the Great School,
including a door said to come from the previous Saxon
 abbey. Increased endowments supported a community
that increased from a dozen monks in Dunstan's original
foundation, up to a maximum of about eighty monks.
This temple was founded according to legend in 616
 Interesting facts
• In the 960s or in the 970s of the Dunstan
saints. For the dissolution of King Edgar,
founded the center of Benedict monks
• The temple was consecrated in 1065
• Inside was the last coronation of King
Harold II before the Norman invasion
• In 1245 the cathedral was rebuilt by Henry
III.After that, it was allowed to bury the
monks near the temple
• in 1535 the profits became 2400-2800
pounds in wealth.
• The towers of the abbey were built from
1722 to 1745 by architect Nicholas
Hawksmoor
• Today, these towers are symbol of the
Gothic Renaissance
Thanks for attention!