Westminster Abbey

Welcome to Westminster Abbey, a masterpiece of Gothic architecture and the living stage of British history. You are currently at twenty Deans Yard, standing within the historic site of a Benedictine monastery founded over one thousand years ago in the year nine hundred and sixty. While the first stone abbey was built by King Edward the Confessor in the eleven sixties, the breathtaking structure you see today was largely the vision of King Henry the Third, who began rebuilding it in the year twelve hundred and forty-five to create a royal burial church and a magnificent shrine. As you stand here, imagine the centuries of footsteps that have crossed these stones. This is not just a museum or a monument; it is a Royal Peculiar, a church that answers directly to the British Sovereign and a site that has witnessed nearly every major moment of national life since the Middle Ages. Prepare to walk through a story that connects medieval monks to modern monarchs.