London Walker - Westminster Abbey

Recently on one of my walks downtown I got to see Westminster Abbey for the first time. It is a very beautiful building. Unfortunately because I was there on a Sunday I was not able to go inside and look around. On Sunday the building is only open for worship there are no tourists allowed. During the rest of the week there are general times during the day that anyone can go inside and look around or get tours (audio tours or with a tour guide). The truth is even if I had been there at a time when visitors are allowed inside I would not have gone in because admission is not free. The admission is fairly expensive somewhere around 20 pounds though the number isn’t really that important for me because I just didn’t have any money. Besides just the building itself Westminster Abbey also has wonderful gardens, a gift shop and a café.

For those interested here is a little bit of the history behind the Abbey, which I grabbed off of their website. (for my American friends please note that the spelling used is British standard not American)

Westminster Abbey is steeped in more than a thousand years of history. Benedictine monks first came to this site in the middle of the tenth century, establishing a tradition of daily worship which continues to this day.

The Abbey has been the coronation church since 1066 and is the final resting place of seventeen monarchs.

The present church, begun by Henry III in 1245, is one of the most important Gothic buildings in the country, with the medieval shrine of an Anglo-Saxon saint still at its heart.

A treasure house of paintings, stained glass, pavements, textiles and other artefacts, Westminster Abbey is also the place where some of the most significant people in the nation's history are buried or commemorated. Taken as a whole the tombs and memorials comprise the most significant single collection of monumental sculpture anywhere in the United Kingdom.

The Library and Muniment Room houses the important (and growing) collections of archives, printed books and manuscripts belonging to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, providing a centre for their study and for research into all aspects of the Abbey's long and varied history.

It really is a beautiful building. So I would recommend having a look at the Abbey to anyone visiting or living in London. Here are some of the pictures I took on my walk around the building.