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• History

  Westminster Abbey is a treasure house of paintings, stained glass, textiles and artefacts – and is also where some significant people are buried or remembered.

  Art Architecture Christianity Notable people Royalty

• Architecture

  The present Abbey building dates mainly from the reign of Henry III. In 1245 he pulled down the eastern part of the 11th century Abbey.

• History of Westminster Abbey

  An architectural masterpiece of the 13th to 16th centuries, Westminster Abbey houses tombs and memorials to kings and queens and the famous and the great.

• Cosmati Pavement

  The Cosmati Pavement was laid down in 1268 by order of Henry III who had started re-building the Abbey in the new Gothic style.

• Jerusalem Chamber

  The Jerusalem Chamber is a medieval room with an original roof and historic tapestries woven in France. King Henry IV died here in 1413.

• Cheyneygates

  These are two rooms over the entrance to the cloisters, originally part of Nicholas Litlyngton's rebuilidng of the Abbot's house complex in the 14th century.

• College Hall

  This is the oldest continuously used dining room in London. It was finished in 1376. Today it is the main dining hall for Westminster School.

• RAF Chapel

  At the eastern end of the Lady Chapel is the Royal Air Force chapel dedicated to the men who died in the Battle of Britain in 1940.

• Abbey in Wartime

  On the outbreak of the second world war in 1939 many of the Abbey's treasures were evacuated for safety to country houses, such as Mentmore.

• Lady Chapel

  The 16th-century historian John Leland called the Henry VII Lady Chapel ‘the wonder of the world’ and it continues to inspire wonder amongst visitors today.

• The Quire

  Come to one of the daily choral services at Westminster Abbey and you will hear our Choir singing from their stalls in the quire.

• The Cloisters

  The Cloisters date mainly from the 13th to the 15th centuries and were where the Abbey’s monks spent much of their time.

• Chapter House

  The "incomparable" 13th century Chapter House in the East Cloister was a daily meeting place for the monks and contains many mural paintings.

• Abbey gardens

  College Garden, within the walls of the Abbey, has been in cultivation for over 900 years. It was used to grow food and medicinal herbs.

• Pyx Chamber

  The Pyx Chamber is one of the oldest surviving parts of Westminster Abbey. This room in the east cloister is part of the Undercroft which was built about 1070.

• Britain's Oldest Door

  Britain's oldest door can be found in Westminster Abbey, in the passage leading to the Chapter House.

• The Nave

  The Nave is at the western end of the Abbey and contains the graves and memorials of many famous people.