Westminster Abbey is an architectural masterpiece built between the 13th and 16th centuries that contains over 3,000 burials and memorials. It has undergone several reconstructions, including under Henry VII when it was rebuilt on a grander scale in a new Gothic style. Notable features include flying buttresses, a lady chapel with a fan-vaulted ceiling, and the chapter house, one of the largest in England. Westminster Abbey continues to play an important role in British coronations and royal weddings.

1. WESTMINSTER ABBEY
SUBMITTED BY :
SUSHMITA(2010UAR148)
ADITYA NIGAM(2010UAR149)
DIKSHIT VARA(2010UAR145)
HISTORY OF
ARCHITECTURE

2. HISTORY
•. It's an architectural masterpiece of the
thirteenth to sixteenth centuries and contains
countless memorials and effigies.
• Over three thousand people are either buried or
memorialised in Westminster Abbey from
Medieval Kings and their Queens, to the tomb of
the Unknown Warrior, which in recent times has
become a place of pilgrimage.
•It is said that a church was founded on the site of
Westminster Abbey by Serbert, King of the East
Saxons who died in AD616, and this was overseen
by Mellitus, the first Bishop of London, but there is
no evidence of this building.

3. •By the 12th century the
Abbey at Westminster was
flourishing and would have
held between thirty and
sixty monks, with up to
300 other people also
being involved in the
running of the Benedictine
Monastry.
•The Abbey was by now
the wealthiest religious
house in Britain
WEST FAÇADE OF ABBEY

4. •IN 15TH
CENTURY DURING THE REIGN OF HENRY VII ABBEY WAS
RECONSTRUCTED ON A MORE GRANDER SCALE COVERING A SIMILAR
AREA TO THAT OF EDWARD’S AND WAS TALLAR,LIGHTER AND MORE
SPACIOUS.
•ARCHITECT WAS HENRY DE REYNS WITH HIS NEW GOTHIC STYLE.
.

5. •The Abbey today still plays an important role to the
people of this Nation as well as remaining a place of
worship.
• Our Kings and Queens continue to be Crowned here and
have their funerals here, although they are now buried at
St Georges Chapel in Windsor.
•Royal weddings held at the Abbey are are recent
introduction
Reconstruction of Westminster in 1585 by Peter
Jackson

6. •The focal point of the new abbey was the
Church which was dedicated to St Peter and
similar in area to the present building.
• It was built in the Norman-French style
THE CLOISTER AT WESTMINSTER

7. ARCHITECTURAL
FEATURES

8. FLYING BUTTRESS SUPPORTING THE NAVE
FROM THE CLOISTER

9. The soaring height of
the roof and the
narrowness of the
nave are typical
features from France
The long nave and
broad trancepts are
thoroughly English, as
are the mouldings of
the arches and
sculptured stone of
polished Purbeck
stone

10. The magnificent
Chapter House
The Chapter House at
Westminster is the second
largest in the country after
Lincoln, but Westminster's
was by far the most
important.

11. The
reconstructed
vaulted roof
in the Chapter
House

12. 1) The revolutionary flying buttresses made it possible to support the
roof more than 100 feet above the ground without needing massively
thick walls.
SECTION OF CHURCH

13. 2) The Lady Chapel at the east end was a later
addition to the abbey. It has an astonishing fan-
vaulted ceiling.
3 )At the west end, the grey stone towers by
Nicholas Hawksmoor, were not completed until
1745.
4)The visitors' entrance is in the North trancept
under the rose window. Once inside, the high
altar can be seen directly ahead at the heart of
the abbey, and in front is the intricate Cosmati
marble pavement. One of the Latin inscriptions
here states that the world will end after 19,683
years.
5)The windows in the nave have been dedicated
to famous people over the years

14. 6) Outside the west door is a circular memorial to
victims of oppression, violence and war, and just
inside is the Grave of the Unknown Warrior.
 Westminster Abbey has not in fact been an
abbey since Henry VIII and the 'dissolution of the
monasteries', and although the name is still used,
it is more correct to call the building a church
(cathedral-sized).

15. TRANSEPT OF WESTMINSTER
ABBEY

16. GROINED VAULTING AND STAINED
GLASS ROSE WINDOWS

17. PLAN

18. LAYOUT OF THE
PLAN(2008)

19. •To the sides are blind arcading, remains of 14th-century
paintings and numerous stone benches above which are
innovatory large 4-light quatre-foiled windows.
•The chapter house has an original mid-13th century tiled
pavement.
• A door within the vestibule dates from around 1050 and is
believed to be the oldest in England.
•The exterior includes flying buttresses added in the 14th
century and a leaded tent-lantern roof on an iron frame
designed by Scott.
QUTRE-FOILED

20. NORTH SIDE OF THE ABBEY

21. PORTAL

22. THE GRAND CHAPTER HOUSE
•The Chapter house was built
concurrently with the east parts of
the abbey under Henry III, between
about 1245 and 1253.
• It was restored by Sir George
Gilbert Scott in 1872.
•The entrance is approached from
the east cloister walk and includes
a double doorway with a large
tympanum above.
•Inner and outer vestibules lead to
the octagonal chapter house,
which is of exceptional
architectural purity.
•It is built in a Geometrical Gothic
style with an octagonal crypt
below.
• A pier of eight shafts carries the
vaulted ceiling.

23. TILES ON FLOOR
The chapter house has an
original mid-13th century
tiled pavement.

24. CLOISTER AND GARTH
Aristocrats were
buried inside chapels
and monks and
people associated
with the Abbey were
buried in
the Cloisters and
other areas.

25. NAVE

26. NORTH ENTRANCE

27. NORTH ENTRANCE
VISITORS’ GATE

28. A statue of Virgin Mary, holding the
child Jesus, above the Great North
Door at Westminster Abbey
The abbey was
built in the reign of
henry VII and
richard II added a
perpendicular
gothic style
dedicated to
blessed Virgin
Mary

29. WEST FACADE
•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.