Concept
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British monarchs, and a burial site for 18 English, Scottish, and British monarchs. At least 16 royal weddings have occurred at the abbey since 1100. Although the origins of the church are obscure, there was certainly an abbey operating on the site by the mid-10th century, housing Benedictine monks. The church got its first grand building in the 1060s under the auspices of the English king Edward the Confessor, who is buried inside. Construction of the present church began in 1245 on the orders of Henry III. The monastery was dissolved in 1559 and the church was made a royal peculiar—a Church of England church responsible directly to the sovereign—by Elizabeth I. In 1987, the abbey, together with the Palace of Westminster and St. Margaret's Church, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site because of its historic and symbolic significance. The Gothic architecture of the church is chiefly inspired by French and English styles from the 13th century, although some sections of the church show earlier Romanesque styles, or later Baroque, and modern styles. The Henry VII Chapel at the east end of the church is a typical example of Perpendicular Gothic architecture; the antiquarian John Leland said of it that it was orbis miraculum ("the wonder of the world"). The abbey is the burial site of more than 3,300 people, many of prominence in British history: monarchs, prime ministers, poets laureate, actors, scientists, military leaders, and the Unknown Warrior. Describing the fame of the figures buried there, author William Morris described the abbey in 1900 as a "National Valhalla". Although historians agree that there was a monastery dedicated to St. Peter on the site prior to the 11th century, its exact origin is somewhat obscure.
