Westminster Cathedral
Ashly Place off Victoria Street, London SW1

Westminster Cathedral, the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Most Precious Blood, is the principal Roman Catholic church in London and in England. 

The building was designed by John Francis Bentley, 1839 - 1902, and was completed in 1903 for Herbert, Cardinal Vaughan.  The land on which the building stands was the site of a former prison, and was originally purchased by Cardinal Manning, Cardinal Vaughan's predecessor.  Although Cardinal Manning approved Henry Clutton's ambitious design for a new Gothic cathedral there was insufficient money to build it. 

Cardinal Vaughan wanted the cathedral to be built as quickly as possible and to be free of debt.  The foundation stone was laid in 1895 and the structure was completed in only eight years.  The debt was extinguished in 1910, when Westminster Cathedral was consecrated.  By this time Cardinal Vaughan had died and the first great service in the new building was his funeral. 

Cardinal Vaughan had originally wanted the church to be built in the Italianate style but Bentley persuaded him that it should be Byzantine.  The architect drew his inspiration from Santa Sophia in Constantinople, the most famous of Byzantine churches, and from the ancient churches of Ravenna. 

The cathedral's spectacular campanile, 284 feet, 86.6 meters, high, built of red brick with horizontal stripes of white Portland stone, stands out against the London skyline.  The interior is an essay in space and famous for its mosaics and marble of varying colours. 

The nave consists of three great domed bays 60 feet wide, with chapels are set on both sides, and beneath a gallery and these chapels are the tombs of the archbishops.  At the east end of the cathedral, a fourth domed bay serves as the sanctuary, flanked by the Lady Chapel and the Blessed Sacrament chapel.

Many features of the interior are derived from Italy including the pulpit and the cover over the high altar.  Bentley also designed the huge cross that hangs over the sanctuary and the octagonal font in the south-west corner.  He had intended to clad the whole interior with coloured marbles and mosaics but funds ran out before the project was completed.  Although the lower parts of the walls have be decorated much of the upper walls remain bare brick.

The great pulpit, created in early Christian style by C A Leonori, dates from 1899 and was raised on columns in 1934.  To the east of the pulpit is a 15th century statue of the Virgin and Child, known as Our Lady of Westminster.  

The cathedral's most important works of art are Eric Gill's dramatic reliefs of the the 14 Stations of the Cross, which adorn the piers of the nave.. 

At the foot of the sanctuary steps is an inscription marking the Mass celebrated here by Pope John Paul II in 1982.  This was the first Mass to be celebrated in England by a reigning Pope.

Westminster Cathedral is well known for its musical tradition. The choir is one of the best in England and the organ one of the finest in Europe.  Concerts are held here on every second Tuesday from June until September. 

In 1975 a piazza was opened up on the north side, giving a fine view of the cathedral from Victoria Street.