Westminster Cathedral
The site on which the cathedral stands in the City of Westminster was purchased by the Diocese of Westminster in 1885, and construction was completed in 1903. Westminster Cathedral is the largest Catholic church building in England and Wales and the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster.
Westminster Cathedral
It was not until the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1982 that the next mosaic was installed above the northwest entrance. Rather than a scene, this mosaic is an inscription: "Porta sis ostium pacificum par eum qui se ostium appellavit, Jesus Christum" (May this door be the gate of peace through Him who called Himself the gate, Jesus Christ). In 1999 the mosaic of Saint Patrick, holding a shamrock and a pastoral staff as well as trampling on a snake, was installed at the entrance to the chapel in his honour. In 2001 a striking mosaic of Saint Alban, strongly influenced by the style of early Byzantine iconography, was installed by the designer, Christopher Hobbs. Due to the very favourable reception of this work, Hobbs was commissioned for further mosaics: the chapel to Saint Joseph which contains mosaics of the Holy Family (2003) and men working on Westminster Cathedral (2006). Hobbs also did the chapel in honour of Saint Thomas Becket illustrating the saint standing in front of the old Canterbury Cathedral on the chapel's east wall and the murder of Thomas on the west wall. The vault is decorated with a design of flowers, tendrils and roundels. (2006). As of 2011, there were plans for further mosaics, for example Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Anthony in the narthex