Thursday, August 17, 2006
Westminster Cathedral
I should think that almost everybody knows of Westminster Abbey. It is where so many of the Royal state affairs have taken place - coronations, marriages, funerals.
Westminster Abbey was built 800 years ago. During the Reformation Henry VIII converted this church from the Roman Catholic persuasion to the new Protestant tradition.
Roman Catholics were not accepted into any positions of power or esteem for some centuries. There was no central and large place for Roman Catholics to gather in London until the turn of the 20th century, when a cathedral was built in Westminster.
We visited this cathedral whilst Ashley and Ekatarina were with us. For Ashley this cathedral is much more than a beautiful tourist attraction and we all felt able to appreciate the spiritual atmosphere under the high ceilings.
There was a service on when we first entered so we decided to go up the tower.
You can see that the cathedral is impressive and unusual. It is brick built, in a Byzantine style.
I can recommend the official cathedral website if you would like to explore further.
www.westminstercathedral.org.uk/home.html
The views from the top of the tower were stunning, though often the famous landmarks were obscured by modern buildings.
In this picture, amongst the trees you can see the Victorial Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace, which you can't really see.
In this picture you can see the top of The London Eye just above the big square building. To the right of that is Westminster Abbey - and between the two, further away, is the modern building known affectionately as "the gherkin".
To the left of the square building you can just see St. Paul's Cathedral.
The ceilings of the cathedral are wonderful.
Some are just incredibly high and you look up towards a dark, seemingly endless distance to the bare bricks.
I didn't realise that this looking up into a sort of eternity was not deliberate, until I was studying the website.
Actually the cathedral is not finished.
I hope it is left the way it is.
Other parts, as you see here are very ornate and beautiful.
The decoration tells the histories of saints.
We also saw the grave of Cardinal Basil Hume who endeared himself to people of all denominations or no faith at all for his clear thinking and obvious love for mankind.
Ekatarina goes to a church school, though not a Roman Catholic school. So she knows about God and Jesus from both her Dad and her teachers. At 5 years old she is rather young to know what to make of it, but she likes the idea of lighting a candle. I went and found a red one from another chapel for her. She didn't want her candle in that chapel, she wanted it by the statue of Mary with the baby Jesus.
Westminster Abbey was built 800 years ago. During the Reformation Henry VIII converted this church from the Roman Catholic persuasion to the new Protestant tradition.
Roman Catholics were not accepted into any positions of power or esteem for some centuries. There was no central and large place for Roman Catholics to gather in London until the turn of the 20th century, when a cathedral was built in Westminster.
We visited this cathedral whilst Ashley and Ekatarina were with us. For Ashley this cathedral is much more than a beautiful tourist attraction and we all felt able to appreciate the spiritual atmosphere under the high ceilings.
There was a service on when we first entered so we decided to go up the tower.
You can see that the cathedral is impressive and unusual. It is brick built, in a Byzantine style.
I can recommend the official cathedral website if you would like to explore further.
www.westminstercathedral.org.uk/home.html
The views from the top of the tower were stunning, though often the famous landmarks were obscured by modern buildings.
In this picture, amongst the trees you can see the Victorial Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace, which you can't really see.
In this picture you can see the top of The London Eye just above the big square building. To the right of that is Westminster Abbey - and between the two, further away, is the modern building known affectionately as "the gherkin".
To the left of the square building you can just see St. Paul's Cathedral.
The ceilings of the cathedral are wonderful.
Some are just incredibly high and you look up towards a dark, seemingly endless distance to the bare bricks.
I didn't realise that this looking up into a sort of eternity was not deliberate, until I was studying the website.
Actually the cathedral is not finished.
I hope it is left the way it is.
Other parts, as you see here are very ornate and beautiful.
The decoration tells the histories of saints.
We also saw the grave of Cardinal Basil Hume who endeared himself to people of all denominations or no faith at all for his clear thinking and obvious love for mankind.
Ekatarina goes to a church school, though not a Roman Catholic school. So she knows about God and Jesus from both her Dad and her teachers. At 5 years old she is rather young to know what to make of it, but she likes the idea of lighting a candle. I went and found a red one from another chapel for her. She didn't want her candle in that chapel, she wanted it by the statue of Mary with the baby Jesus.