Westminster Cathedral

Westminster Cathedral Review

Amid the concrete jungle of Victoria Street lies this remarkable neo-Byzantine find, seat of the Archbishop of Westminster, head of the Roman Catholic Church in Britain. Faced with the daunting proximity of Westminster Abbey, architect John Francis Bentley flew in the face of fashion by rejecting neo-Gothic in favor of the Byzantine idiom, which still provides maximum contrast today. The asymmetrical redbrick Byzantine edifice, dating from 1903, is banded with stripes of Portland stone and abutted by a 273-foot-high bell tower containing Big Edward at the northwest corner, ascendable by elevator for sterling views. The interior remains incomplete and is unusual for the unfinished overhead brickwork of the ceiling, which lends the church a dark, brooding intensity. Several side chapels—such as the eastern-Roman styled Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament and the Holy Souls Chapel—are beautifully finished in glittering mosaics. The lovely Lady Chapel—dedicated to the Virgin Mary—is also sumptuously decorated. In front of the chapel, a small stone statue of Jesus' mother attracts particular veneration. Look out for the Stations of the Cross (stopping points for prayer or contemplation) by Eric Gill and the striking baldachin—the enormous stone canopy standing over the altar and giant cross suspended in front of it. The nave, the widest in the country, is constructed in green marble, which also has a Byzantine connection—it was cut from the same place as the 6th-century St. Sophia's in Istanbul, and was almost confiscated by warring Turks as it traveled west. All told, more than 200 different types of marble can be found within the cathedral's interior. Just inside the main entrance is the tomb of Cardinal Basil Hume, head of the Catholic Church in the United Kingdom for more than 25 years. There's a café in the crypt.