Twenty members ventured out for the second of our occasional visits to historic churches. This time it was the Roman Catholic Cathedral at Westminster.
On arrival we were greeted by a team of guides who split us into two groups and showed us around this iconic building.
Following Catholic Emancipation in 1829, the Diocese of Westminster was formed and by the 1880s, with the growth of London and surrounding areas, it became apparent there was a serious need for a cathedral to serve the diocese. A site was purchased in 1885 and building started in 1895 and was completed in 1903. It was decided that the style would be based on 9^th Century Christian Neo-Byzantine as seen in St Mark’s Venice and Hagia Sophia Constantinople. Construction made use of the materials which were common to this era – mostly London bricks (12 million) and concrete.
Once the main structure had been completed, the finishing off moved forward at a more leisurely pace as funds permitted. Today most of the side chapels have been completed in various styles, but more work is still to be done, particularly at the higher levels. “Will it ever be completed?” - “Maybe never” was one informed reply.