When was Westminster Cathedral built?
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.
Sacred Heart Cathedral, Wellington
The first church to be built on the Hill Street site was the wooden, neo-Gothic, St Mary's Cathedral, blessed and opened in 1851. It was gutted by fire on 28 November 1898, during repainting. It was decided that a new cathedral should be erected near Mt Victoria and a parish church built on the site of the old cathedral.
However, the new church, called the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, was intended as a substantial building. Its foundation stone was laid in 1899 and the building blessed and opened two years later. The money to build Sacred Heart was partly taken from the fund for the new cathedral; the new cathedral was never actually built. It was not until 1984 that the Basilica was elevated to the status of a cathedral, and on 18 March 1984, the Cathedral was consecrated by Cardinal Thomas Williams, the fifth Archbishop of Wellington. In 1985, the building was listed as a Category 1 Historic Place.
The Cathedral is largely built of Oamaru limestone with brick facings. Designed by architect Francis Petre, with an axis of east-west rather than the west-east of its predecessor, Sacred Heart was built on a classical basilican plan. However, its portico of Ionic columns of Oamaru stone, whose pedestals rest on elongated plinths, and a high pediment closely reflect those of a Roman or Greek temple, and, in that respect, its most obvious model is the Maison Carrée, Nimes, which has full-length, Corinthian, columns. The building is within the classical proportions and forms a parallelogram (accommodating a clerestory with rows of arch-topped windows) of about 42 metres by 19 metres by a height of 18 metres. The main entrance is reached by means of a flight of seven steps. Out of the portico are three pairs of folding doors. The main pair in the centre give entrance directly to the church (originally, through a vestibule). The frieze of the Cathedral pediment carries the Latin inscription in gold letters: "S.S. Cordi Jesu Dedicatum. A.D. MCMI" which may be translated as "Dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. A.D. 1901."
Plymouth Cathedral
Since the diocese's foundation, the small church of Saint Mary, erected in 1807 at "Saint Mary Street", had served as Pro-cathedral. Vaughan decided to build a cathedral replacing the pro-cathedral. On 20 February 1856, he bought a portion of land on the town's outskirts. It cost £3,904: £1,000 from Mr Bastard and the remaining money was raised throughout the diocese and elsewhere in England. Joseph Hansom and Charles Hansom were the architects and local men from Stonehouse built it. Work commenced on 22 June, during which a Royal Navy officer fired new Turkish Man-of-war guns in Plymouth Sound, which caused subsidence. The Cathedral was opened with Mass on 25 March 1858 (the Feast of the Annunciation), and consecrated by Vaughan on 22 September 1880.
Westminster Cathedral
Unlike most other English cathedrals, Westminster does not have a separate quire; instead, the choir are hidden from view in the apse behind the high altar. This, with the excellent acoustic of the cathedral building, contributes to its distinctive sound.
Westminster Cathedral
It was designed by John Francis Bentley in a neo-Byzantine style, and is accordingly made almost entirely of brick, without steel reinforcements. John Betjeman has called it "a masterpiece in striped brick and stone" and said that it shows that "the good craftsman has no need of steel or concrete."
St Clement Danes
St Clement Danes is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London. It is situated outside the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand. Although the first church on the site was reputedly founded in the 9th century by the Danes, the current building was completed in 1682 by Sir Christopher Wren. Wren's building was gutted during the Blitz and not restored until 1958, when it was adapted to its current function as the central church of the Royal Air Force.
History of Christianity in Britain
Even before the Conquest, Edward the Confessor had returned from Normandy with masons who constructed Westminster Abbey (1042) in the Romanesque style. The cruciform churches of Norman architecture often had deep chancels and a square crossing tower, which has remained a feature of English ecclesiastical architecture. England has many early cathedrals, most notably York Minster (1080), Durham Cathedral (1093), and (New) Salisbury Cathedral (1220). After a fire damaged Canterbury Cathedral in 1174, Norman masons introduced the Gothic style, which developed into the English Gothic at Wells and Lincoln Cathedrals around 1191. Oxford and Cambridge began as religious schools in the 11th and 13th centuries, respectively.
Lincoln Cathedral
Remigius built the first Lincoln Cathedral on the present site, finishing it in 1092 and then dying on 7 May of that year, two days before it was consecrated. In 1124, the timber roofing was destroyed in a fire. Alexander (bishop, 1123–48) rebuilt and expanded the cathedral, but it was mostly destroyed by an earthquake about forty years later, in 1185 (dated by the British Geological Survey as occurring 15 April 1185). The earthquake was one of the largest felt in the UK: it has an estimated magnitude of over 5. The damage to the cathedral is thought to have been very extensive: the Cathedral is described as having "split from top to bottom"; in the current building, only the lower part of the west end and its two attached towers remain of the pre-earthquake cathedral.
Some (Kidson, 1986; Woo, 1991) have suggested that the damage to Lincoln Cathedral was probably exaggerated by poor construction or design; with the actual collapse most probably caused by a vault failure.
Christ Church Cathedral (Victoria, British Columbia)
The Town of Victoria was incorporated in 1862 with 6000 people and 1500 buildings. Vancouver Island reverted from the Hudson's Bay Company to the Crown, and Fort Victoria was demolished. Hills had to choose which of the two churches to make the cathedral. St. John's could hold 600. Christ Church had been built with a capacity of 400, but an apse and south aisle were added to it in 1862 and a north aisle in 1865. On December 7, 1865, opting for the better location of Christ Church, he consecrated Christ Church Cathedral and appointed Cridge as its first dean.
City of Westminster
The origins of the City of Westminster pre-date the Norman Conquest of England. In the mid-11th century, King Edward the Confessor began the construction of an abbey at Westminster, only the foundations of which survive today. Between the abbey and the river he built a palace, thereby guaranteeing that the seat of Government would be fixed at Westminster, and inevitably drawing power and wealth west out of the old City of London.
Gothic architecture
Nonetheless, Gothic architecture, usually churches or university buildings, continued to be built. Ireland was an island of Gothic architecture in the 17th and 18th centuries, with the construction of Derry Cathedral (completed 1633), Sligo Cathedral (c. 1730), and Down Cathedral (1790–1818) are other notable examples. In the 17th and 18th century several important Gothic buildings were constructed at Oxford University and Cambridge University, including Tom Tower at Christ Church, Oxford, by Christopher Wren (1681–82) It also appeared, in a whimsical fashion, in Horace Walpole's Twickenham villa, Strawberry Hill (1749–1776) The two western towers of Westminster Abbey were constructed between 1722 and 1745 by Nicholas Hawksmoor, opening a new period of Gothic Revival.
Palace of Westminster
At the north end of the Palace rises the most famous of the towers, Elizabeth Tower, commonly known as Big Ben. At , it is only slightly shorter than Victoria Tower but much slimmer. Originally known simply as the Clock Tower (the name Elizabeth Tower was conferred on it in 2012 to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II), it houses the Great Clock of Westminster, built by Edward John Dent on designs by amateur horologist Edmund Beckett Denison. Striking the hour to within a second of the time, the Great Clock achieved standards of accuracy considered impossible by 19th-century clockmakers, and it has remained consistently reliable since it entered service in 1859. The time is shown on four dials in diameter, which are made of milk glass and are lit from behind at night; the hour hand is long and the minute hand . The Clock Tower was designed by Augustus Pugin and built after his death. Charles Barry asked Pugin to design the clock tower because Pugin had previously helped Barry design the Palace. In the 2012 BBC Four documentary, Richard Taylor gives a description of Pugin's Clock Tower: "It rises up from the ground in this stately rhythm, higher and higher, before you reach the clock face, picked out as a giant rose, its petals fringed with gold. Medieval windows above that and then it hits the grey slate roof, its greyness relieved by those delicate little windows again picked out in gold leaf. And then rises up again in a great jet of gold to the higher roof that curves gracefully upwards to a spire with a crown and flowers and a cross. It's elegant and grand and has fairy tale qualities."
Architecture of the medieval cathedrals of England
Built between 1079 and 1532, Winchester Cathedral has had an unusual architectural history. The exterior, apart from the modified windows, gives the impression of a massive Norman building and indeed, it is the longest medieval church in the world. However, the west front is now Perpendicular, with its huge window filled with fragments of medieval glass. Inside, only the crypt and the transepts have retained their Norman appearance. The spectacular Perpendicular nave with its tall arcade arches and strong vertical emphasis has been literally carved out of the original Norman interior. A former Dean, the Very Rev. Norman Sykes, wrote of it “Well might the visitor who enters … by the west door gasp with amazement.” Winchester is also famous for its carved wooden fittings of many different periods,these including two sets of mediaeval choir stalls, those in the Quire, complete with 72 misericords, being of an early date, circa 1308, and in the Lady Chapel, a later set of circa 1415, uniquely the only pre-Reformation wooden stalls to survive complete in a Lady Chapel.
Architecture of the medieval cathedrals of England
Built between 1084 and 1504, Worcester Cathedral represents every medieval style from Norman to Perpendicular. It is famous for its Norman crypt, and for its circular chapter house, which became the model from which derives the series of uniquely British polygonal chapter houses. Also notable are a series of unusual Transitional Gothic bays, fine woodwork and the central tower, which, though not large, is nevertheless of particularly fine proportions.
New Palace Yard
The name of New Palace Yard refers to the first Palace of Westminster, built by the Anglo-Saxon king Edward the Confessor around 1050. The yard was created after William II of England constructed Westminster Hall in 1097 and was given the appellation "New" to distinguish it from Old Palace Yard a few hundred metres further south. For several hundred years, it was probably a patch of low-lying open marshy ground or perhaps even an inlet, prone to flooding up to very recent times. A rapid increase in the level of the Thames necessitated the construction of a river wall on the yard's eastern side in the 12th century. It was reclaimed by laying down cobbles on successive layers of debris that had accumulated over the years and was laid out as an open space by the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century. Thereafter, as Westminster grew, the yard came to be surrounded by buildings and walls.
Tothill Fields Bridewell
The second prison was closed in 1877, when prisoners were transferred to Millbank Prison, and was demolished in 1885. Westminster Cathedral, started in 1895, now stands on the site. The prison's foundations were re-used for the cathedral.
Worcester Cathedral
The Cathedral was founded in 680, with a Northumbrian priest, Tatwine, appointed as its first bishop. Tatwine died before he could be consecrated, however, so his successor Bishop Bosel may be regarded as Worcester's first serving bishop. The first cathedral church, dedicated to Ss. Peter and Paul, was built in this period, but no remains of its architecture survive. The crypt of the present-day cathedral dates from the 10th century and the time of St Oswald, Bishop of Worcester.
Methodist Church of Great Britain
Some large inner-city churches, known as 'central halls', are designated as circuits in themselves. One notable Methodist Central Hall, located off Parliament Square in Westminster, was established in 1912 to serve as a church with additional use "for conferences on religious, educational, scientific, philanthropic and social questions". About a hundred such halls were built in Britain between 1886 and 1945, many in a Renaissance or Baroque style. In their heyday they presented low-cost concerts and shows to entertain the working classes on Saturdays, encouraging them to abstain from alcohol, as well as hosting church congregations on Sundays. However, many were bombed during the Second World War, and others declined as people moved out of the city centres; only sixteen remain in use as Methodist churches. Others, such as the landmark Central Hall in Birmingham and Grand Central Hall in Liverpool, have been sold and adapted as retail or nightclub venues.
Palace of Westminster
The exterior of the Palace of Westminsterespecially the Elizabeth Tower which houses the bell known as Big Ben, and its setting on the bank of the River Thames—is recognised worldwide, and is one of the most visited tourist attractions in London. Tsar Nicholas I called it “a dream in stone”. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) classifies the Palace of Westminster, along with neighbouring Westminster Abbey and St Margaret's, as a World Heritage Site. It is also a Grade I listed building.
Westminster College (Missouri)
This predecessor of this church building was originally constructed in the City of London during the 12th century, but burned down in the Great Fire of London in 1666. This church was erected as its replacement by Christopher Wren in the 17th century. During World War II, the Wren church was gutted by German bombs and in the mid-1960s, it was dismantled and shipped stone-by-stone to Fulton and reconstructed on Westminster's campus. Today, the church serves as the College's chapel. While it is occasionally claimed that St. Mary's is the oldest church in North America, the statement is not accurate. The transported Wren building is not the original 12th Century building of the St. Mary Aldermanbury parish of London. It is instead the replacement that was built under Wren's direction between 1672 and 1677, and contains no details of the original, being a new construction made largely of Portland stone that Wren had quarried in Dorset. This would make it considerably newer than such ancient North American buildings as the church of San Francisco in Tlaxcala, Mexico, whose construction began in 1521.
St James Old Cathedral
The church originally stood near the corner of Collins Street and William Street in the centre of the town (where there is still a small street called St James Lane). In 1848 Melbourne became an Anglican diocese and St James' became the cathedral church of the first Bishop of Melbourne, Charles Perry. It served as Melbourne's Anglican cathedral until St Paul's Cathedral was consecrated in 1891. In 1913–14 it was moved to a new site on the corner of King Street and Batman Street opposite the Flagstaff Gardens. The move was overseen by John Stevens Gawler, a Melbourne architect who was largely responsible for establishing the School of Architecture at the University of Melbourne.
Westminster Abbey
Westminster diocese was dissolved in 1550, but the abbey was recognised (in 1552, retroactively to 1550) as a second cathedral of the Diocese of London until 1556. The already-old expression "robbing Peter to pay Paul" may have been given a new lease of life when money meant for the abbey, which is dedicated to Saint Peter, was diverted to the treasury of St Paul's Cathedral.
The abbey was restored to the Benedictines under the Catholic Mary I of England, but they were again ejected under Elizabeth I in 1559. In 1560, Elizabeth re-established Westminster as a "Royal Peculiar" – a church of the Church of England responsible directly to the Sovereign, rather than to a diocesan bishop – and made it the Collegiate Church of St Peter (that is, a non-cathedral church with an attached chapter of canons, headed by a dean.)
Herbert Vaughan
It was Vaughan's most cherished ambition to see an adequate Westminster Cathedral. He worked untiringly to secure subscriptions for a capital campaign, with the result that the foundation stone for the cathedral was laid in 1895. When Vaughan died in 1903 at the age of 71, the building was so far complete that a Requiem Mass was said there. His body was interred at the cemetery of St. Joseph's College, the headquarters of the Mill Hill Missionaries in North London but it was moved back to the Cathedral and reinterred in the Chapel of St Thomas of Canterbury (the "Vaughan Chantry") in 2005.
Westminster Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral (), or the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in London is the mother church of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.
Architecture of London
The single most pervasive style of architecture was "Neo-Gothic", also called "Gothic Revival", embodied by the new Palace of Westminster built to designs by Charles Barry between 1840 and 1876. Gothic architecture embodied "the influence of London's past" and coincided with Romanticism, a cultural movement which glorified all things Medieval, from literature and painting to music and architecture. The evangelism prevalent in mid-century Britain was also a factor in favoring Gothic Revival, which referenced great English cathedrals like Ely and Salisbury. The leading proponents of Gothic Revival were Augustus Pugin, entrusted with the interior design of the Palace of Westminster, and John Ruskin, a highly influential art critic.
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of St 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 burial site for English and, later, British monarchs. The building itself was a Benedictine monastic church until the monastery was dissolved in 1539. Between 1540 and 1556, the abbey had the status of a cathedral. Since 1560, the building is no longer an abbey or a cathedral, having instead the status of a Church of England "Royal Peculiar"—a church responsible directly to the sovereign.
Westminster Quarters
In the mid-19th century the chime was adopted by the clock tower at the Palace of Westminster (where Big Ben hangs), whence its fame spread. It is now possibly the most commonly used chime for striking clocks.
According to the church records of Trinity Episcopal Church (Williamsport, Pennsylvania), this chime sequence was incorporated into a tower clock mechanism by the E. Howard & Co., Boston, MA. The clock and chime in Trinity's steeple base was dedicated in December 1875. It holds the distinction of being the first tower clock in the United States to sound the Cambridge Quarters.The prayer inscribed on a plaque in the Big Ben clock room reads:
Worms Cathedral
Most of the cathedral was finished by 1181, however the west choir and the vaulting were built in the 13th century, the elaborate south portal was added in the 14th century, and the central dome has been rebuilt.
St Mary's Cathedral, Perth
The Benedictine Brothers from Subiaco and New Norcia had constructed the Bishop's Palace facing Victoria Square. The square had originally been named "Church Square", and had been set aside for the construction of a Church of England cathedral. However, the early Anglicans in the colony considered the location to be too far from the centre of the fledgling colony, and instead constructed St George's Cathedral on what is now St Georges Terrace. Bishop Serra therefore applied to the Governor of the colony to cede the land in Victoria Square to the Roman Catholic Church, which occurred on 13 August 1859.
Westminster Cathedral
The Cathedral is frequently referred to as the 'Drome'. This dates from the early 20th century days when the Lay Clerks were represented by Equity - the trade union for actors and variety artists. In the profession, it was jokingly referred to as 'The Westminster Hippodrome' - a nickname which was later shortened to the 'Drome'.
Westminster Bridge
For over 600 years (at least 1129-1729), the nearest Thames bridge to London Bridge was at Kingston. From late Tudor times congestion in trading hours at London Bridge (for road goods and carriages from Kent, Essex, much of Surrey, Middlesex and beyond) often amounted to more than an hour. A bridge at Westminster was proposed in 1664, but opposed by the Corporation of London and the watermen. Further opposition held sway in 1722. However an intervening bridge (albeit in timber) was built at Putney in 1729 and the scheme received parliamentary approval in 1736. Financed by private capital, lotteries and grants, Westminster Bridge was built between 1739–1750, under the supervision of the Swiss engineer Charles Labelye. The bridge opened on 18 November 1750.
Holy Trinity Cathedral (New Westminster)
Holy Trinity became the first Anglican Cathedral of the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster in 1892. It located in the City of New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada and since 1929 it has been the pro-cathedral. Services commenced at Holy Trinity in 1860.
Westminster Theatre
The Westminster Theatre was a London theatre, on Palace Street in Westminster. It was originally built as the Charlotte Chapel in 1766, which was altered and given a new frontage for use as a cinema from 1924 onwards. It finally became a theatre in 1931 after radical alterations. By the time it fell out of use in the late 20th century, it had been remodelled twice more (in 1966 and 1972) and had three storeys, a 560-seat main house and a 100-seat studio theatre.
Westminster Chapel
The present chapel, completed in 1865, was designed by the architect William Ford Poulton (1822–1901) of Reading, Berkshire in a Lombard Romanesque Revival style. It is built of stock brick with some red brick and stone dressings. The façade on Buckingham Gate is gabled and has a recessed triple-arched central porch, with graduated arcading above, all having decorative shafting. There is a tower to the right, with coupled arched windows. The top stage of the tower was added in the 20th century in a different style and colour.
Anglo-Saxon London
Edward the Confessor, the step-son of Cnut, became king in 1042. He built Westminster Abbey, the first large Romanesque church in England, consecrated in 1065, and the first Palace of Westminster. Edward's death led to a succession crisis, and ultimately the Norman invasion of England.
Westminster Cathedral
In 1977, as part of her Silver Jubilee celebrations, Queen Elizabeth II visited the cathedral to view a flower show.
St Mary's, Cadogan Street
St Mary's, Cadogan Street is a Grade II* listed Roman Catholic church in Cadogan Street, Chelsea, London. It was built between 1877 and 1879 by John Francis Bentley, most notable for his work as architect of Westminster Cathedral, and is one of the oldest Roman Catholic parishes in Central London
Liverpool Cathedral
The cathedral is based on a design by Giles Gilbert Scott, and was constructed between 1904 and 1978. The total external length of the building, including the Lady Chapel (dedicated to the Blessed Virgin), is making it the longest cathedral in the world; its internal length is . In terms of overall volume, Liverpool Cathedral ranks as the fifth-largest cathedral in the world and contests with the incomplete Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City for the title of largest Anglican church building. With a height of it is also one of the world's tallest non-spired church buildings and the third-tallest structure in the city of Liverpool. The cathedral is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building.
Bangor Cathedral
The Synod of Westminster in 1102 is recorded as taking measures to restore Bangor Cathedral, but the earliest part of the present building was built during the episcopate of Bishop David (1120–1139) with the assistance of the king of Gwynedd, Gruffudd ap Cynan, who donated money towards the project and was buried by the high altar on his death in 1137. This was a cruciform building in the Norman style, about 44 yards in length. Gruffudd's son, Owain Gwynedd, was also buried here, as was his brother Cadwaladr. Giraldus Cambrensis describes a service held here in 1188 when the Archbishop of Canterbury celebrated Mass.
Westminster Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral Choir made its first recording in 1907. Many more have followed in the Westminster Cathedral Choir discography, most recently the series on the Hyperion label, and many awards have been conferred on the choir's recordings. Of these the most prestigious are the 1998 Gramophone Awards for both Best Choral Recording of the Year and Record of the Year, for the performance of Martin's Mass for Double Choir and Pizzetti's Requiem. It is the only cathedral choir to have won in either of these categories.
Christ Church Cathedral (Victoria, British Columbia)
Beginning in 1858, Victoria was overrun with gold seekers on their way to the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. Hundreds of makeshift structures went up and several years of intense growth ensued. December 12, 1859, Queen Victoria issued Royal Letters Patent creating the Bishopric of British Columbia. On January 12, 1859, Letters Patent created the Diocese of British Columbia, endowed by The Baroness Burdett-Coutts. On February 24, 1859, the Rev. George Hills was consecrated in Westminster Abbey as its first Bishop. After a summer of fundraising for the Columbia Mission Fund, Bishop Hills sailed for Victoria and arrived on January 6, 1860. Bishop Hills had engaged the clipper barque Athelstan to bring from England a pre-fabricated church building and furnishings, which arrived in February. It was erected on Block R, Douglas St., about half a mile north of Christ Church, and was consecrated as the Church of St. John the Divine, after his parish in Yarmouth.
Regina's historic buildings and precincts
Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Cathedral, a grand neo-romanesque structure on 13th Avenue in the West End, was completed in 1912 and consecrated in 1913; at the time, its 235-foot twin spires were the tallest structures in Regina. Its Casavant Frères pipe organ, originally installed in 1930, repaired after a disastrous 1976 fire, and extensively refurbished and enlarged in 1992–1993, remains the largest organ in Regina. When it suffered its disastrous 1976 its congregation repaired next door to Westminster United, which gladly offered its worship space to Holy Rosary for the duration.
Westminster Presbyterian, now United Church, immediately to the east of Holy Rosary on 13th Avenue, was also completed in 1913 and designed by architect Neil R. Darrach. Wascana Methodist, later United Church, a fine, elegant wooden structure in plain vernacular style on 13th Avenue at Pasqua, originally stood on 14th Avenue as Fourteenth Avenue Methodist Church, was moved in 1925 to its new site at 13th and Pasqua and later sold by its congregation when they built a new church in the West End; the congregation was subsequently dissolved and merged into Westminster. The West End, where the Cathedral is located, has acquired a somewhat bohemian air, and has in recent years increasingly attracted the sobriquet "the Cathedral Area."
Westminster Abbey
The organ was built by Harrison & Harrison in 1937, then with four manuals and 84 speaking stops, and was used for the first time at the coronation of King George VI. Some pipework from the previous Hill organ of 1848 was revoiced and incorporated in the new scheme. The two organ cases, designed and built in the late 19th century by John Loughborough Pearson, were re-instated and coloured in 1959.
Westminster Cathedral
Located in the west gallery, the Grand Organ of four manuals and 81 stops occupies a more commanding position than many British cathedral organs enjoy. Built by Henry Willis III from 1922 to 1932, it remains one of the most successful and admired. One of Louis Vierne's best-known organ pieces, "Carillon de Westminster," the final movement from Suite no. 3 (op. 54) of Pièces de Fantaisie, was composed for it and dedicated to the builder. The apse organ of fifteen stops was built in 1910 by Lewis & Co. Although the Grand Organ has its own attached console, a console in the apse can play both instruments.
Westminster Cathedral
On St Andrew's Day (30 November) 1995, at the invitation of Cardinal Basil Hume, Queen Elizabeth again visited the cathedral but this time she attended Choral Vespers, the first participation of the Queen in a Catholic church liturgy in Great Britain.
John Francis Bentley
John Francis Bentley (30 January 1839 – 2 March 1902) was an English ecclesiastical architect whose most famous work is the Westminster Cathedral in London, England, built in a style heavily influenced by Byzantine architecture.
Winchester
Winchester Cathedral was originally built in 1079 and remains the longest Gothic cathedral in Europe. It contains much fine architecture spanning the 11th to the 16th century and is the place of interment of numerous Bishops of Winchester (such as William of Wykeham), Anglo-Saxon monarchs (such as Egbert of Wessex) and later monarchs such as King Canute and William Rufus. It was once an important pilgrimage centre and housed the shrine of Saint Swithun. The ancient Pilgrims' Way travelling to Canterbury begins at Winchester. The plan of the earlier Old Minster is laid out in the grass adjoining the cathedral. The New Minster (the original burial place of Alfred the Great and Edward the Elder) once stood beside it. The cathedral has a girls choir and a boys choir, which sing on a regular basis at the cathedral.
Old St Paul's Cathedral
According to the architectural historian John Harvey, the octagonal chapter house, built about 1332 by William Ramsey, was the earliest example of Perpendicular Gothic. This is confirmed by Alec Clifton-Taylor, who notes that the chapter house and St Stephen's chapel at Westminster Abbey predate the early Perpendicular work at Gloucester Cathedral by several years. The foundations of the chapter house were recently made visible in the redeveloped south churchyard of the new cathedral.
Architecture of the medieval cathedrals of England
Four other churches are associated with this tradition: St John the Baptist's Church, Chester, Old St. Paul's Cathedral, London, Bath Abbey and the destroyed Benedictine Abbey of Coventry. The collegiate church of St John in Chester was raised to cathedral status in 1075, but became a co-cathedral in 1102, when the see was removed to Coventry. The current building was probably begun around the time of the see's removal. St. Paul’s, a cathedral with a secular chapter, was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and was replaced by the present cathedral in the Baroque style designed by Christopher Wren. Bath Abbey was co-cathedral of the Diocese of Bath and Wells, along with Wells Cathedral. Although a large church, architecturally it does not fit the cathedral tradition, but has much in common with King’s College Chapel, Cambridge and St. George’s Chapel, Windsor. The abbey church at Coventry, was co-cathedral with Lichfield and St John Chester in the Diocese of Lichfield, but was destroyed at the Dissolution. The large parish church of St. Michael’s, Coventry, became Coventry Cathedral in 1918. It was bombed during World War II, leaving intact only its spire, regarded as one of the finest in England. The new Coventry Cathedral designed by Sir Basil Spence was consecrated in 1962 and adjoins the shell of the ancient church.
Wrexham Cathedral
The cathedral was originally built as a parish church in 1857. Its architect, E. W. Pugin, adopted a 14th-century Decorated Gothic style. The church replaced an earlier chapel which by the 1850s was deemed insufficient for the growing congregation. Further additions to satisfy a still growing congregation were made in the mid 20th century, in the form of the cloister and side chapel.
Washington National Cathedral
Construction started September 29, 1907, with a ceremonial address by President Theodore Roosevelt and the laying of the cornerstone. In 1912, Bethlehem Chapel opened for services in the unfinished cathedral, which have continued daily ever since. When construction of the cathedral resumed after a brief hiatus for World War I, both Bodley and Vaughan had died. Gen. John J. Pershing led fundraising efforts for the church after World War I. American architect Philip Hubert Frohman took over the design of the cathedral and was thenceforth designated the principal architect. Funding for Washington National Cathedral has come entirely from private sources. Maintenance and upkeep continue to rely entirely upon private support.
St Margaret's, Westminster
St Margaret's was rebuilt from 1486 to 1523, at the instigation of King Henry VII, and the new church, which largely still stands today, was consecrated on 9 April 1523. It has been called "the last church in London decorated in the Catholic tradition before the Reformation", and on each side of a large rood there stood richly painted statues of St Mary and St John, while the building had several internal chapels. In the 1540s, the new church came near to demolition, when Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, planned to take it down to provide good-quality materials for Somerset House, his own new palace in the Strand. He was only kept from carrying out his plan by the resistance of armed parishioners.
Anglo-Saxon London
Edward's Norman sympathies are most clearly seen in the major building project of his reign, Westminster Abbey, the first Norman Romanesque church in England. This was commenced between 1042 and 1052 as a royal burial church, consecrated on 28 December 1065, completed after his death in about 1090, and demolished in 1245 to make way for Henry III's new building, which still stands. It was very similar to Jumièges Abbey, which was built at the same time. Robert of Jumièges must have been closely involved in both buildings, although it is not clear which is the original and which the copy.
Francis Petre
That Wellington's principal Roman Catholic Cathedral is today a small, but quite perfect, Romano-Grecian temple is entirely the result of chance. The Sacred Heart Basilica, now a cathedral, was originally designed and conceived as a church to mark the site of the fire-gutted St Mary's Cathedral. Petre had strong family connections to the site, as it and an adjacent plot, now the site of St Mary's College, had been given to the Roman Catholic Church by his father and grandfather. The original cathedral, a grand Gothic structure complete with flying buttresses, had been built in 1850 but was destroyed by fire in 1898. Within two days Petre had been asked to design a new church on the site. A decision was taken, however, to build the new Cathedral nearer the more densely populated areas of Wellington, Te Aro and Newtown. Petre later published plans for this Cathedral in 1903, describing his proposed structure as "Roman, bordering on to Florentine Renaissance, treated liberally". This cathedral project never came to fruition, but what was quickly constructed was the Church, or Basilica, of "The Sacred Heart" on the razed cathedral site.
Heinrich von Ferstel
While still in Italy he was awarded the prize in the competition for the Votive Church ("Votivkirche") in Vienna (1855) over 74 contestants. He built it between 1856-79. After his death it was proposed by Sir Tatton Sykes as a model for the new Westminster Cathedral in London. Another of Ferstel's monumental works belonging to the same period is the Austro-Hungarian bank in Vienna, in the style of the Early Renaissance (1856–60). The expansion of the city of Vienna enabled Ferstel, with Rudolf Eitelberger, to develop civic architecture along artistic lines (Burgomaster's residence, Stock Exchange 1859). At the same time he had also the opportunity of putting his ideas into practice in a number of private dwellings and villas in Brünn and Vienna.
Thomas Henry Poole
Poole was a Roman Catholic, and most of his commissions were for the archdiocese in and around New York. He seldom designed Protestant churches; but these too were in New York City.
Poole also served his Catholic faith as a writer. He contributed articles to "The Messenger", a church publication with offices in Manhattan. He wrote a detailed architectural review of the Westminster Cathedral when it opened in London, England, in 1903:
Imperial Cathedrals
Speyer Cathedral is the world's largest preserved Romanesque church (after the demolition of Cluny Abbey) and today a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was built starting about 1025 by King Conrad II as a family vault for the ruling Salian dynasty. His successor Henry III donated the Speyer Gospels in 1046; the building was completed in 1061 under the rule of King Henry IV. During the Investiture Controversy with Pope Gregory VIII, he had the church again extended from 1081, in order to stress his Imperial authority. His mortal remains were transferred to the cathedral by his son Henry V in 1111.
St John the Baptist Cathedral, Norwich
It is one of two cathedrals in the city of Norwich, the other being the Church of England Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, completed in the Norman style in 1145. It is the second largest Roman Catholic cathedral in England, the largest being Westminster Cathedral.
Westminster Abbey
Henry VIII assumed direct royal control in 1539 and granted the abbey the status of a cathedral by charter in 1540, simultaneously issuing letters patent establishing the Diocese of Westminster. By granting the abbey cathedral status, Henry VIII gained an excuse to spare it from the destruction or dissolution which he inflicted on most English abbeys during this period.
Salford Cathedral
By early 1890 the last £1,000 was paid to settle the original debt for the building of the Cathedral, which led to the consecration of the Cathedral in the same year by the second Bishop of Salford, Herbert Vaughan, later to become Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster.
Christ Church Cathedral (Vancouver)
In 1929, the Archbishop of New Westminster constituted Christ Church as the Cathedral Church of the Diocese replacing Holy Trinity Cathedral located in the City of New Westminster. The church planned to build a bell tower, but in 1943, the city by-laws were changed to restrict church bells. In November 2016, a bell tower was inaugurated. Its four bells are rung daily at 8 am and 6 pm and before church services.
Bury St Edmunds
St James' parish church became St Edmundsbury Cathedral when the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich was formed in 1914. The cathedral was extended with an eastern end in the 1960s. A new Gothic revival cathedral tower was built as part of a Millennium project running from 2000 to 2005. The opening for the tower took place in July 2005, and included a brass band concert and fireworks. Parts of the cathedral remain uncompleted, including the cloisters and some areas remain inaccessible to the public due to building work. The tower makes St Edmundsbury the only recently completed Anglican cathedral in the UK and was constructed using original fabrication techniques by six masons who placed the machine pre-cut stone individually as they arrived.
History of London
In 1707, an Act of Union was passed merging the Scottish and the English Parliaments, thus establishing the Kingdom of Great Britain. A year later, in 1708 Christopher Wren's masterpiece, St Paul's Cathedral was completed on his birthday. However, the first service had been held on 2 December 1697; more than 10 years earlier. This Cathedral replaced the original St. Paul's which had been completely destroyed in the Great Fire of London. This building is considered one of the finest in Britain and a fine example of Baroque architecture.
Emmanuel Cathedral
It was built to replace an old church dedicated to St. Joseph who had been in use since 1881. The first stone was laid by Bishop Charles Jolivet in January 1902 and the temple was officially dedicated in November 1904. Some parts of the old church were joined to the Emmanuel Cathedral. Beside the Cathedral is the Juma Masjid Mosque. Across the road from the Cathedral is the Victoria Street Market.
Our Lady of Victories, Kensington
Prior to the re-opening of Catholic churches, Mass in this period was said in Catholic embassies or in private houses. In 1866 the Carmelites opened the first Catholic church in the district. The parish church of Our Lady of Victories opened on 2 July 1869, the Feast of the Visitation, and became the Pro-Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Westminster. The Westminster Cathedral (in Victoria) was not built until 1903 so until that time, Kensington’s church was the foremost Catholic church in England.
St Andrew's Uniting Church, Brisbane
Construction on the church began in late 1902, after the tender of Messrs Alexander Lind and Son, assisted by foreman Alexander Anderson, for * was accepted, and continued until 27 August 1905 when it was opened for public worship, the first service being conducted by Rev. W. Sweyn Macqueen. Payne remained involved in the project throughout construction and it is perhaps for this reason that the finished building is characterised throughout by well integrated and sophisticated detailing. A lengthy report in a Presbyterian newspaper, The Messenger, commemorating the opening of the church comments on public criticism of the building, likening the criticism to that experienced by the opening of Westminster Cathedral (the Roman Catholic Cathedral located in central London, built 1895-1903). This was designed by John Francis Bentley, and constructed in polychrome banded brickwork in the manner of Byzantine or Early Christian churches, quite different from the usual Gothic tone of churches of the time in that part of Europe. The article says, "there is no denying that it (St Andrew's) is unique as far as the Commonwealth is concerned. It has no prototype that we know", and continued on to describe the style of architecture as "a phase of early Christian or early Romanesque, that had its best expression in simplicity and severity of detail which relies for effect on the impressive dignity of the grouping of masses, forms, proportion, and which excludes all extravagant and unnecessary ornament." Those design features of St Andrews' which are of the Romanesque style, include the previously discussed massing of bold forms; the use of simple geometric shapes; semicircular arched openings; the half-domed interior to the chancel area; vaulting in the narthex and in the hall beneath the church; the general heaviness of many of these features rendered in face brick and the sparse use of Celtic and Norman ornamentation.
World's largest palace
England's Palace of Westminster was built in the Middle Ages as a royal residence. It served as the principal residence of the monarch until 1522, when Henry VIII moved his court to the newly acquired Palace of Whitehall. Since that time, the palace at Westminster has been used by the House of Lords, the House of Commons and various courts. The majority of the medieval palace was destroyed by fire in 1834, with construction of the current building starting in 1840. The palace which now stands on the site was designed specifically for parliamentary use, however it is the property of the monarch in right of the Crown and retains its status as a royal residence. Very little of the medieval palace survived, but the most significant is Westminster Hall, built in 1097 during the reign of William II.
St Edmundsbury Cathedral
From 1959 onwards there was renewed building work designed to transform the former parish church into a cathedral building. Between 1959 and 1970, the Victorian chancel was demolished and replaced with a new quire, a cloister was added on the west side; also transepts, a Lady chapel and a side chapel dedicated to St Edmund were built. The cathedral architect from 1943 to 1988 was Stephen Dykes Bower and he left £2 million for the completion of the cathedral. In the cathedral grounds a new choir school and visitor's centre were which were opened in 1990, built by Dykes Bower's successor, Alan Rome. Work started on a Gothic revival style tower in 2000; funded by the Millennium Commission, the Stephen Dykes Bower Trust and others, the Millennium Tower was designed by Hugh Mathew, an associate of Dykes Bower. The 150 foot (46 metre) structure was built from 600,000 bricks and faced with Barnack and Clipsham stone. Its completion was officially celebrated on 22 July 2005. Further additions are the Chapel of the Transfiguration and the East Cloister, both completed in 2009, and the Crypt Treasury in 2012.
Augustus Pugin
Following the destruction by fire of the Palace of Westminster in Westminster, London in 1834, Pugin was employed by Sir Charles Barry to supply interior designs for his entry to the architectural competition which would determine who would build the new Palace of Westminster. Pugin also supplied drawings for the entry of James Gillespie Graham. This followed a period of employment when Pugin had worked with Barry on the interior design of King Edward's School, Birmingham. Despite his conversion to the Roman Catholic Church in 1834, Pugin designed and refurbished both Anglican and Catholic churches throughout England.
Westminster Presbyterian Church (Alexandria, Virginia)
The congregation was founded in 1932. Its initial colonial-style edifice was built in 1942.
The current sanctuary was constructed in 1952 to accommodate the rapidly growing congregation; the old sanctuary became the chapel. The cornerstone of the new building was laid by then President Harry S. Truman.
Westminster College, Cambridge
The college was founded in London in 1844 with a temporary home in the Exeter Hall before moving to permanent premises in Queen's Square, London in 1859. It then moved to Cambridge in 1899 following the gift of a prime site of land near the centre of the city by two Scottish sisters, Agnes Smith Lewis and Margaret Dunlop Gibson, both noted biblical scholars. Following an appeal for funds from the wider Presbyterian congregation, the college commissioned a new building designed by Henry Hare and built between 1897–1899. In 1967 the college began to amalgamate with Cheshunt College, Cambridge, presaging the union of the Congregational and Presbyterian churches to form the United Reformed Church in 1972.
Westminster Castle
Architect E.B. Gregory designed and laid the cornerstone for the university's main building, which was to be constructed of gray stone from the Coal Creek area. Construction was delayed because of lack of funding, so Mayham hired New York architect Stanford White to finish the design and oversee construction. White changed a main design element, the stone, to a red sandstone from the Red Rocks/Manitou area. White's design was completed by 1893: 160 ft frontage, 80 ft depth, three stories tall, with a distinctive 175 ft tall tower. The building's architectural style is an excellent example of Richardsonian Romanesque.
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
Westminster Abbey
According to a tradition first reported by Sulcard in about 1080, a church was founded at the site (then known as Thorn Ey (Thorn Island)) in the seventh century, at the time of Mellitus, a Bishop of London. Construction of the present church began in 1245, on the orders of King Henry III.
St Mary's Church, Preston Park
The architect was Percy Aidan Lamb. In 1907, not long before being commissioned to design St Mary's Church, he started his architectural firm in London. Before that he trained with Edward Goldie. From 1895 to 1907, he worked for John Francis Bentley on the construction of Westminster Cathedral. He built St Mary's Church in the Gothic Revival style with Arts and Crafts movement influences. In the church, he also designed the font made of onyx. It was made by J. Whitehead & Son, crafted from a pair of columns originally constructed for Westminster Cathedral.
Edward the Confessor
Edward's Norman sympathies are most clearly seen in the major building project of his reign, Westminster Abbey, the first Norman Romanesque church in England. This was commenced between 1042 and 1052 as a royal burial church, consecrated on 28 December 1065, completed after his death in about 1090, and demolished in 1245 to make way for Henry III's new building, which still stands. It was very similar to Jumièges Abbey, which was built at the same time. Robert of Jumièges must have been closely involved in both buildings, although it is not clear which is the original and which the copy.
St Mary's Cathedral, Wellington
Building the Cathedral continued slowly and in 1865 Bishop Viard appealed for funds. Sufficient was raised to extend the sanctuary and build a tower 32 metres high, whose important feature was a recess for a cast-iron statue of Our Lady which arrived from France in 1867 in time for the feast of the Nativity of Our Lady on 8 September. The statue was placed in the tower in memory of the consecration of the diocese in 1855 to the Immaculate Conception, which Bishop Viard had carried out, after he had proclaimed the newly pronounced dogma, as a specific remedy against any recurrence of the series of severe earthquakes felt in the province of Wellington over several months in that year. St Mary's Cathedral was considered "without exeception the finest ecclesiastical structure in the colony". The expanded Cathedral was opened by Bishop Viard on Christmas Day, 1867. It was designed by Christian Julius Toxward, who also designed the first synagogue in Wellington and the transepts added to Old St Paul's.
Westminster Cathedral
No new mosaics were installed until 1950 when one depicting St Thérèse of Lisieux (later replaced by a bronze) was placed in the south transept and another (in memory of those in the Royal Army Medical Corps who died in World War II) in the chapel of Saint George in 1952. From 1960 to 1962 the Blessed Sacrament Chapel was decorated in a traditional, early Christian, style with the mosaics being predominantly pale pink in order to afford a sense of light and space. The designer, Boris Anrep, chose various Eucharistic themes such as the sacrifice of Abel, the hospitality of Abraham and the gathering of the manna in the wilderness as well as the Feeding the multitude and the Wedding Feast at Cana. In his old age, Anrep also acted as adviser and principal sketch artist for the mosaics installed in the chapel of Saint Paul (1964–1965) These mosaics depict various moments in the life of Paul; his occupation as a tent-maker, his conversion to Christ, the shipwreck on Malta and his eventual execution in Rome.
Westminster Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral has published a monthly magazine since 1896, before the building work was completed. The latest in a series of titles is "Oremus", which first appeared in 1996. (The Latin word "oremus" translates into English as "Let us pray".) "Oremus" is a 32-page colour magazine, which contains features and articles by well-known members of the Catholic community, as well as non-Catholic commentators and leading figures within British society. It is the successor of titles such as the "Westminster Cathedral Record", selling at 6d per copy from January 1896, the "Westminster Cathedral Chronicle", a monthly, available from January 1907 at 2d a copy or 3/- a year, post paid, and the "Westminster Cathedral Bulletin", first published in 1974. Dylan Parry, who edited the magazine between 2012 and August 2016, took the decision to make "Oremus" a free publication in 2013. The magazine is also available to download via Westminster Cathedral's website.
Edmund the Martyr
In 1901, the Archbishop of Westminster, Herbert Vaughan, received some relics from the basilica of Saint-Sernin. The relics, believed at the time to be those of St Edmund, were intended for the high altar of London's Westminster Cathedral, which was then under construction.
Holy Rood Church, Watford
Holy Rood Church is a Roman Catholic Parish church in Watford, Hertfordshire. It was built from 1889 to 1890. It is situated on the western corner of Market Street and Exchange Road. It was designed by John Francis Bentley, who also designed Westminster Cathedral. It is a Grade I listed building.
St Joseph's Cathedral, Rockhampton
St Joseph's Roman Catholic Cathedral was constructed in 1893-1899 as the first catholic cathedral of Rockhampton manifesting the creation of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockhampton in 1882. The building was designed by prominent Brisbane architects, FDG Stanley and Son.
The first official Roman Catholic service in Rockhampton was held in May 1862, when Bishop James Quinn of Roman Catholic Diocese of Brisbane sent two young priests on a pastoral visit. Father James Scully and Father Patrick Duhig arrived aboard the "Clarence" and celebrated Mass in the local Court House with about fifty Roman Catholic people. Whilst in Rockhampton the two priests instigated a fund raising exercise to support the construction of a church. This building was opened by Father J Moynahan on 4 January 1863, dedicated to St Joseph. Its location was on the corner of Derby and Alma Streets. Father Charles Murlay, later Dean Murlay, was appointed to the Rockhampton parish and looked after an area extending from Gladstone to Townsville and west to Blackall. In 1876 Bishop Quinn suggested that a site be found for the construction of a suitable cathedral as the parish was to become a Diocese. Land in William Street was secured by February 1877 and by 1883 the parish had raised £4000 for the construction of a cathedral. On 21 May 1882 Bishop John Cani was consecrated as the first Bishop of Rockhampton and he planned in earnest for the construction of a cathedral.
Matt Lamb
Millennium Project Westminster Cathedral, London
Westminster Cathedral
On 18 September 2010, on the third day of his four-day state visit to the United Kingdom, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass in the cathedral.
St Mary's Cathedral, Wellington
Redwood treated the fire as providential, and decided to replace the destroyed cathedral with a new parish church for Thorndon and to transfer the title "St Mary's" to a new cathedral to be built on the corner of Tory St and Buckle St adjacent to St Patrick's College, Wellington. This projected site was changed several times, but the new St Mary's Cathedral was never built. The pursuit of the new Cathedral was fruitless for many reasons, principally lack of money. This meant that Wellington was without an official Catholic Cathedral until 1984. The parish church to replace St Mary's Cathedral in Thorndon, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, was opened on 3 February 1901. For the next 83 years it was the usual de facto Cathedral until, in 1984, the Basilica was officially designated as the Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Wellington, and, with the inclusion of the old dedication of "St Mary's", it was dedicated and consecrated in that year under the title of "Metropolitan Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and of St Mary his mother".
St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna
In 1304, King Albert I ordered a Gothic three-nave choir to be constructed east of the church, wide enough to meet the tips of the old transepts. Under his son Duke Albert II, work continued on the Albertine choir, which was consecrated in 1340 on the 77th anniversary of the previous consecration. The middle nave is largely dedicated to St. Stephen and All Saints, while the north and south nave, are dedicated to St. Mary and the Apostles respectively. Duke Rudolf IV, "the Founder", Albert II's son, expanded the choir again to increase the religious clout of Vienna. On 7 April 1359, Rudolf IV laid the cornerstone for a westward Gothic extension of the Albertine choir in the vicinity of the present south tower. This expansion would eventually encapsulate the entirety of the old church, and in 1430, the edifice of the old church was removed from within as work progressed on the new cathedral. The south tower was completed in 1433, and vaulting of the nave took place from 1446 to 1474. The foundation for a north tower was laid in 1450, and construction began under master Lorenz Spenning, but its construction was abandoned when major work on the cathedral ceased in 1511.
In 1365, just six years after beginning the Gothic extension of the Albertine choir, Rudolf IV disregarded St. Stephen's status as a mere parish church and presumptuously established a chapter of canons befitting a large cathedral. This move was only the first step in fulfilling Vienna's long-held desire to obtain its own diocese; in 1469, Emperor Frederick III prevailed upon Pope Paul II to grant Vienna its own bishop, to be appointed by the emperor. Despite long-standing resistance by the Bishops of Passau, who did not wish to lose control of the area, the Diocese of Vienna was canonically established 18 January 1469, with St. Stephen's Cathedral as its mother church. In 1722 during the reign of Karl VI, Pope Innocent XIII elevated the see to an archbishopric.
Westminster Cathedral
In addition to its performances of Renaissance masterpieces, Westminster Cathedral Choir has given many first performances of music written especially for it by contemporary composers. Terry gave the premières of music by Vaughan Williams (whose Mass in G minor received its liturgical performance at a Mass in the cathedral), Gustav Holst, Herbert Howells and Charles Wood; in 1959 Benjamin Britten wrote his Missa brevis for the choristers; and since 1960 works by Lennox Berkeley, William Mathias, Colin Mawby and Francis Grier have been added to the repertoire. Most recently four new Masses—by Roxanna Panufnik, James MacMillan, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and Judith Bingham—have received their first performance in the cathedral. In June 2005 the choristers performed the world première of Sir John Tavener's Missa Brevis for boys' voices.
Our Lady of Westminster
Our Lady of Westminster is a late Medieval statue of the Madonna and child, now to be found at the entrance of the Lady Chapel in Westminster Cathedral, London, under the thirteenth Station of the Cross. The image is made of English alabaster, is flat backed, high and depicts the Virgin Mary enthroned with the Christ child on her right knee. Mary is crowned and holds a sceptre (now broken) in her left hand, the Christ child looks up at her and holds a globe with one hand, whilst with the other he blesses it. The statue is one of the greatest treasures of the cathedral is the oldest item housed there as the cathedral itself is a 19th-century foundation.
Thomas Walsh (Vicar Apostolic of the London District)
Walsh is most remembered for his commissioning of two cathedrals, the Cathedral of Saint Chad, Birmingham and Nottingham Cathedral and St Mary's College, Oscott, and his association with the distinguished architect Augustus Welby Pugin. In 1848, he was named Vicar Apostolic of the London District, with the intention of him being the first Archbishop of Westminster when the hierarchy was to be restored in 1850, but he died before that happened, in Golden Square, Soho, London on 18 February 1849. He is buried in the crypt chapel of St Peter, in the Metropolitan Cathedral of St Chad. A large Gothic-revival memorial to him with a recumbent effigy, designed by Pugin and carved by George Myers, was erected in the North aisle of the Cathedral in 1851, after being exhibited in the Mediaeval Court of the Great Exhibition in Crystal Palace, Hyde Park, London.
City of Westminster
Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries abolished the abbey at Westminster, although the former abbey church is still called Westminster Abbey. The church was briefly the cathedral of the Diocese of Westminster created from part of the Diocese of London in 1540, by letters patent which also granted city status to Westminster, a status retained after the diocese was abolished in 1550. The Westminster Court of Burgesses was formed in 1585 to govern the Westminster area, previously under the Abbey's control. The City and Liberties of Westminster were further defined by Letters Patent in 1604, and the court of burgesses and liberty continued in existence until 1900, and the creation of the Metropolitan Borough of Westminster.
Dean and Chapter of Westminster
The first college of canons was established by letters patent on 17 December 1540 by Henry VIII. Under the Bishop of Westminster of the newly created Diocese of Westminster, there was a dean and 12 canons, six of whom were former monks of the abbey. They survived the dissolution of the diocese in 1550, becoming a second cathedral of the Diocese of London until 1556 when the college was dissolved by Mary I. The second college of canons was established on 21 May 1560 by Elizabeth I, this time as a royal peculiar. From 16 November 1645 the dean and canons were dispersed, and a committee of the Lords and Commons from the Long Parliament governed. The dean and canons were restored on the Restoration in 1660.
Westminster School
'College', now shared between the three Houses of College, Dryden's and Wren's, is a dressed stone building overlooking College Garden, the former monastery's Infirmary garden which is still the property of the Collegiate Church of Westminster Abbey. College dates from 1729, and was designed by the Earl of Burlington based on earlier designs from Sir Christopher Wren (himself an Old Westminster).
Charles Barry
Following the destruction by fire of the old Houses of Parliament on 16 October 1834, a competition was held to find a suitable design, for which there were 97 entries. Barry's entry, number 64, for which Augustus Pugin helped prepare the competition drawings, won the commission in January 1836 to design the new Palace of Westminster. His collaboration with Pugin, who designed furniture, stained glass, sculpture, wallpaper, decorative floor tiles and mosaic work, was not renewed until June 1844, and then continued until Pugin's mental breakdown and death in 1852. The Tudor Gothic architectural style was chosen to complement the Henry VII Lady Chapel opposite. The design had to incorporate those parts of the building that escaped destruction, most notably Westminster Hall, the adjoining double-storey cloisters of St Stephen's court and the crypt of St Stephen's Chapel. Barry's design was parallel to the River Thames, but the surviving buildings were at a slight angle to the river, so Barry had to incorporate the awkwardly different axes into the design. Although the design included most of the elements of the finished building, including the two towers at either end of the building, it would undergo significant redesign. The winning design was only about in length, about two-thirds the size of the finished building. The central lobby and tower were later additions, as was the extensive royal suite at the southern end of the building. The amended design on which construction commenced was approximately the same size as the finished building, although both the Victoria Tower and Clock Tower were considerably taller in the finished building, and the Central Tower was not yet part of the design.
St Margaret's, Westminster
The church was founded in the twelfth century by Benedictine monks, so that local people who lived in the area around the Abbey could worship separately at their own simpler parish church, and historically it was within the hundred of Ossulstone in the county of Middlesex. In 1914, in a preface to "Memorials of St. Margaret's Church, Westminster", a former Rector of St Margaret's, Dr Hensley Henson, reported a mediaeval tradition that the church was as old as Westminster Abbey, owing its origins to the same royal saint, and that "The two churches, conventual and parochial, have stood side by side for more than eight centuries — not, of course, the existing fabrics, but older churches of which the existing fabrics are successors on the same site."
Westminster Presbyterian Church (Minneapolis)
Westminster began as a gathering of eight people of Scottish, Irish and Welsh heritage in 1857. In 1860, the congregation built its first church, on Fourth Street between Nicollet and Hennepin Avenues in downtown Minneapolis. Because of the rapid growth of the congregation, the church soon outgrew its first location. In 1883, construction of a new, larger church began at Seventh Street and Nicollet Avenue.
Westminster Chapel
The congregation was formed in 1840 and its original chapel building was completed in Buckingham Gate in 1841. The congregation outgrew that building, so construction of a new chapel was begun in 1864. This building is the present chapel. It opened on 6 July 1865 and has capacity to seat about 1,500 people.
Worcester
The most famous landmark in Worcester is the imposing Anglican Worcester Cathedral. The current building, officially named the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, was known as Worcester Priory before the English Reformation. Construction begun in 1084. Its crypt dates from the 10th century. The chapter house is the only circular one in the country. The cathedral also has the distinction of housing the tomb of King John.
Burning of Parliament
The Palace of Westminster originally dates from the early eleventh century when Canute the Great built his royal residence on the north side of the River Thames. Successive kings added to the complex: Edward the Confessor built Westminster Abbey; William the Conqueror began building a new palace; his son, William Rufus, continued the process, which included Westminster Hall, started in 1097; Henry III built new buildings for the Exchequer—the taxation and revenue gathering department of the country—in 1270 and the Court of Common Pleas, along with the Court of King's Bench and Court of Chancery. By 1245 the King's throne was present in the palace, which signified that the building was at the centre of English royal administration.
William Hay (architect)
William Hay (17 May 1818 – 30 May 1888) was a Scottish architect who was actively working internationally from 1842 to 1887. A specialist in gothic architecture, he is primarily known for his work on several churches and cathedrals. His most famous structure is the Bermuda Cathedral in Hamilton, Bermuda which he designed in 1885. Construction of the cathedral began in 1886 and was completed seven years after Hay's death in 1905. He also designed some of the oldest buildings and structures in Toronto, Ontario, from 1853–1861, and was responsible for the restoration of St. Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh from 1872–1884. His career exemplifies how the British Empire of the Victorian Era was united not only by military and political strength but also by professionals who took advantage of opportunities in its wide array of territories.
Westminster Abbey
The abbey's two western towers were built between 1722 and 1745 by Nicholas Hawksmoor, constructed from Portland stone to an early example of a Gothic Revival design. Purbeck marble was used for the walls and the floors of Westminster Abbey, even though the various tombstones are made of different types of marble. Further rebuilding and restoration occurred in the 19th century under Sir George Gilbert Scott.
Diocese of Westminster (Church of England)
The Diocese of Westminster was a short-lived diocese of the Church of England, extant from 1540–1550. Westminster Abbey served as its cathedral.