"Super long standby" Queen The big family led by Elizabeth II should be one of the most popular "sky groups" in the UK. Meeting the Queen's family during my trip was the most surprising thing about my entire trip to England.
The journey is coming to an end, and I am back in London and still living in my original homestay. It only takes more than ten minutes to walk from the west end of London where I live to the parliament building . When I arrived near the Parliament Building, I found that the road was blocked everywhere. I quickly asked the onlookers and they said that the Queen would pass by here and give a speech.
You know, it is not easy to see the queen in the UK, not to mention that it is my first time in the UK. Hurry up and take a detour to the intersection diagonally opposite the Capitol, waiting for the Queen's convoy to set off from Buckingham Palace .
Many of the onlookers are locals in London. They watch the BBC live broadcast on their mobile phones at the same time, and the news pushes the Queen's every move at any time. Soon the Queen's convoy entered the Parliament Building under the leadership of the horse team. The locals watching next to me also asked me to pay attention. The British flag was lowered on the roof and the "Queen's Flag" was raised.
I don’t care about the content of the Queen’s speech, it’s nothing more than “Brexit”. More than half an hour later, the convoy came out of the Parliament and returned to Buckingham Palace. The people next to me looked at the photos I took and explained to me one by one: the first car was the Queen, Prince Charles and Camilla, the second car was the princess, and the convertible car was sitting in the back.
After the Queen's convoy passed by, the guard of honor walked past me one by one. Including military band, navy, etc., there are even Scottish Legion wearing skirts.
In June 1953, Elizabeth II held a coronation ceremony in Westminster Monastery opposite the Parliament Building, which began her legendary life for more than half a century. This monastery is also the focus of my visit today.
Westminster Abbey , maybe Chinese people are more accustomed to its name of the sound and meaning - Westminster Temple . "West" means "Western", and "Minster" means the cathedral, specifically the original attachment to the monastery. Its official name is more twilight: The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster . "Coordinated church" means a church that is "autonomous" without being governed by the diocese system. In the early Middle Ages, some churches did not have bishops appointed by the Roman Catholic Church, and the word "Minster" was derived from the Latin word "monasterium". At that time, there was St. Paul's Cathedral in the east of London, so the word "West" was added here.
I didn't have the right time to go to the UK this time. I was repairing everywhere. Westminster Temple was blocked so hard that I could hardly tell what it was.
The history of Westminster Temple can be traced back to the church built by the Saxons in the 7th century AD. "Edward the Confessor (1001-1066.1.5)" is a devout Christian. He wanted to go to Rome to make a pilgrimage, but he was afraid that he would not leave the British throne. The "travel" was cancelled, and according to the Pope's instructions, he built a monastery with "travel expenses" to atone for his sins. Edward also hopes that he can have a decent place to settle down after his death. From 1045 to 1065, this first Romanesque church in England is the predecessor of Westminster Temple today. The church was completed and consecrated on December 28, 1065. Edward died a week later and was buried here as he wished.
Edward has no descendants. In 1066, his successor, Harold Godwinson (1022-1066) was crowned in the monastery. At the end of the same year, "William the Conqueror (1028-1087) " also chose to crown him here in order to show that he was a true "conqueror". Since then, Westminster has witnessed the crowning of 39 kings of England here (only Edward V and Edward VIII are not).In 1245, Henry III (Henry III, 1207-1272) hoped that the place where he was buried was more decent, so he ordered the reconstruction of the church. This construction lasted for more than two hundred years. During the period of Richard III (1452-1485), the architect Henry Yevele referenced the style of Gothic churches in France, such as Reims and Amiens, and built narrow single passages and wide cross wings according to British tradition.
In 1503, Henry VII (Henry VII, 1457-1509) asked someone to build a vertical Gothic Church at the east end of the church, and he became the first person to be buried here. The kings of England all contributed to their designs, and the church has become a hodgepodge of various styles.
Henry VIII promoted the Reformation, and Westminster Temple was also controlled by the king in 1534 and closed in 1540. Queen Mary I (Mary I, 1516-1558) briefly became a cathedral during her reign, but the following year after her death, her half-sister Elizabeth I (Elizabeth I, 1533-1603) once again closed Westminster.
Elizabeth I
Westminster Temple reopened in 1579, but since then it was no longer the bishop who managed the monastery, but the priest commander appointed by the king. That is to say, the monastery is a Protestant church directly managed by the royal family. There is also a Catholic church in London, and there is a "Westminster Cathedral" not far from Westminster Temple. Many of the online guides are irresponsible, and Westminster Temple is called "Westminster Abbey", and the monastery is the correct name.
, which pushed Charles I to the guillotine, was buried in a monastery after his death in 1658. But in 1660, Charles II restored his tomb and demolished his tomb. He felt that whipping the corpse was not relieved enough, so he cut Cromwell's head down and hung it on the top of the monastery for 61 years! It was probably almost forgotten later and it was taken down when it was rebuilt.
The final completed part of Westminster Temple is two 68-meter-high towers on the west side, designed by British architect Nicholas Hawksmoore and was not completed until 1745. Since 1875, the front of the church was renovated by the architect George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878), who was too addicted to the Gothic style and thus destroyed many exquisite non-Gothic works.
I remember that the French writer Hugo once commented that Notre Dame Cathedral is a "symphony of stone", and is also a Gothic church made of stone. Westminster is not only a stone history book of the British royal family, but also a museum of great men. For hundreds of years, not only have British royal weddings and funerals been held here, but many celebrities, including Newton , Churchill and even Hawking, have been buried here forever.
To avoid queueing, I booked my tickets online in advance. But after watching the Queen's convoy, the tourists in front of the monastery had already lined up. After security check, I took the guide and walked into this great church.
The first thing I saw after entering was several statues, most of which were British celebrities buried here. Being able to be buried in the same monastery as the monarch is undoubtedly the wish of British nobles and elites from all walks of life before their death.
Since the queen is going to visit the monastery the next day, the staff are busy preparing, and the monastery will be closed early at 2 pm. When I came in, there were a lot of tourists, and everyone followed the fixed tour route in one direction. On the walls, the ground is covered with monuments with names and birth and death. On the way to the west on the north side of the hall, an inconspicuous stone slab that countless people stepped on every day was engraved with "Charles Robert Darwin, 1809-1882". It is the founder of biological evolution Darwin ! I can't help but sigh: The tombstone after the death of a legendary master is so simple that it is naturally trampled under my feet. This is truly the "founder" of human science.
The tomb of the unknown martyrs built in 1920 in the center of the hall is the tomb of the unknown martyrs built in 1920, commemorating the unknown heroes who died in World War I and allowing them to enjoy the same honor as the king.This is also the only tombstone in Westminster that is not allowed to be trampled.
The 31-meter-high nave is the tallest Gothic vault in England. The characters from the Bible Old Testament were painted on the west window made in 1735.
Walk along the nave, there are several rows of seats in front of the huge screen, which is the place for the service.
Behind the screen is a choir seat, and there is a niche on the front, one on the left and one on the right. The niche on the left is estimated that students hate him a lot when studying physics. This person leaning on the book is the founder of physics - Newton (1642-1726) . The sphere above him is not the earth, but the "celestial sphere" marked with the zodiac chart. Such a great scientist, more tourists stayed in front of his tomb.
Westminster Monastery has the only choir school in the UK that has been preserved to this day, and most of them serve various worship activities.
The main altar is located on five steps, an area where coronation, weddings and major royal events are held.
The mosaic ground in front of the altar was laid in 1268 during the reign of Henry III. It specially invited craftsmen to lay ornate patterns from Roman . This technology is unique to Italy and is called "Cosmati" technology.
There is a mosaic mosaic on the screen behind the altar "The Last Supper"
The temple behind the screen enshrines the remains of Edward the confessor and is not open to tourists. He is also the only king in England to be sacred.
In the northeast corner of the temple is the tomb of Henry III, decorated with the same mosaic craft as the ground on the altar.
The east end is the three-channel Our Lady's Chapel built by Henry VII in 1503. The two rows of wooden chairs are the location of the " Order of the Bath " created by George I (1660-1727). On the back of the seat are badges of the Knights members, with their flags flying above them. The arches on the roof of the chapel are densely carved and carefully crafted. Many funnel-shaped floral decorations are hanging from the roof of the chapel, which is extremely exquisite. This chapel is considered to be the most outstanding representative work of medieval British architecture.
The altar of the Chapel was designed by Italian sculptor Pietro Torrigiano (1472-1528), and was destroyed during the restoration of the Stuart dynasty and later rebuilt.
Behind the altar is the tomb of Henry VII, who created Tudor dynasty .
Except for Henry VIII, the Tudor monarchs were buried in the Chapel of Our Lady. The southern passage is the tomb of Queen Mary I. Since Queen Mary is mentioned, I will say a few more words. As the daughter of Henry VIII, she was a devout Catholic. After ascending the throne, she vigorously restored the Catholicism and burned at least 300 opponents to death, and was named "Bloody Mary".
The north passage is the tomb of her sister, the "Virgin Queen" Elizabeth I, who has never married for life.
Remember the statue of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400) that I met in Canterbury? He is famous for his Canterbury Story Collection and was buried in Westminster Temple after his death. He was the earliest poet to be buried here. Because of him, the southern wing of the monastery Cross Wing specially opened a "Poem Corner". The writers all chose to stay with the greatest literary masters of the UK in the Middle Ages.
After all, the monastery is limited in area, so many writers can only leave a name here. For example, the poet Byron (Byron, 1788-1824) and the Shakespeare (William Shakespeare, 1564-1616) in the center of the Nanwall Sculpture. After Shakespeare died, he was buried in his hometown, Stratford on the Avon. Byron was refused to be buried by Westminster Temple on the grounds of "misconduct" when he died, and he did not leave his name for him until 1969.
Above the statue of Shakespeare are the names of British romantic poets Shelley (Shelley, 1792-1822) and Keats (1795-1821) , and the lower left is Jane Austen (1775-1817) , both of which are not buried here.
The tomb of Dickens (Charles Dickens, 1812-1870) on the ground. There are tombs or monuments with names written by more than 3,000 British celebrities throughout the monastery.
Some people even left their names on the colorful windows behind the south wall, such as the great writer Wilde (Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900). Anyway, no matter what form you use, as long as you can leave a name in Westminster Temple, it is a great honor.
The St. George's Chapel near the West Gate preserves an important wooden chair - a coronation chair used by Kings of England during the crowning of all dynasties.
This chair was made by Edward I (1239-1307) in 1296, in order to place the "Stone of Scone" he stolen from Scotland. Legend has it that this stone was used as a pillow in the Old Testament of the Bible. It was said that this stone was used as a pillow when the prophet Jacob dreamed of the ladder. He went to Egypt, Ireland, , and Scotland. People think that if the real king stone is crowned on the stone, it will make a sound, so it is called " Stone of Destiny ". It was first used as a coronation by the Irish king, and was named after it was obtained in Scotland and preserved in Squin Monastery. Edward I went to Scotland to steal the stone and found someone to make a chair that could be put into the stone for use when crowning it. Since then, every King of England has been sitting on this chair when he was crowned.
In 1996, Squeen Stone was transported back to Edinburgh Castle, Scotland, but the British King still had to transport it back to Westminster Temple when the coronation ceremony was held.
After writing this, I feel that Skun Stone is a bit like the "National Jade Seal" in ancient China. Only by getting it is the real true dragon emperor. Thinking about it, the British are also quite interesting, and they treat a stone as a treasure.
The appearance of stones placed in a chair
Westminster Abbey has far more significance than a monastery, it is simply a history of the British royal family and celebrities. Voltaire once commented on it: Walking into Westminster Abbey, the greatest thing is the monument set by the country to thank those who have brought glory to the country, which is the respect of the British people for them.
Tips:
1, Transportation: Subway Jubliee Line/Circle Line/District Line, Westminster Station
2, Opening hours: 9:30-15:30, Saturday: 9:00-15:00, will not be open on Sundays
3, Tickets: 23 pounds for adults, free Chinese audio guide, and book in advance on the official website £21.
4. The monastery is its official name. There is also a "Westminster Abbey" nearby. The Parliament Building opposite it is also called "Westminster Palace".
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[Author: Desert Rose]
Global Travel Expert, Travel Experiencer, Freelance Writer, and Guest Host. He has traveled alone to nearly 50 countries and more than 200 cities on five continents.
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