Westminster Abbey: Norman Structure

Item

Title
Westminster Abbey: Norman Structure
Alternative Title
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster
City
London, England, United Kingdom
Location
United Kingdom
Building Creation Date
ca. 1045-1290 (inclusive)
Century
11th century
12th century
13th century
Description
perspective, looking eastward , interior perspectives
The abbey may have been founded in the early 7th century. It certainly existed by the late 8th, although its architectural history is unknown before the rebuilding undertaken by King Edward the Confessor probably in the late 1040s, when he apparently also began the palace. The former Benedictine, now collegiate, church contains an immense quantity of monumental sculpture from the Middle Ages onwards, as well as important medieval paintings. The anonymous life of St Edward the Confessor, written 1065-1067, gives a long description of the parts of the abbey that existed when Edward died in January 1066. This, together with evidence from small-scale 19th- and early 20th-century excavations, permits a reconstruction of the completed church as a near-double of the church of Notre-Dame, Jumièges abbey, in Normandy, although Westminster Abbey was longer than any French church of the period. Edward's upbringing in Normandy helps explain the urge to embark on a total rebuilding as well as the use of the Norman Romanesque style not previously employed in England. Edward's work included an apsed and vaulted chapter house.
Techniques
line drawings (drawings)
Classification
Architectural Documentation
Documentation Type
illustrations
Style/Period
Medieval
Norman
Cultural Context
British
Norman
Subject
architectural exteriors
architectural interiors
death or burial
rulers and leaders
saints
Source
Bishop, Henry Halsall. Pictorial Architecture of the British Isles. Third edition, revised and enlarged. New York: E. and J.B. Young and Co, 1885, 31.
Access Rights
Public Domain

“Westminster Abbey: Norman Structure”, Arch Design Images, accessed November 13, 2024, https://exhibits.lib.ttu.edu/s/archlib/item/18515