Nicki Schoenl

A recent meeting of the Fredonia Shakespeare Club was hosted at the home of Cheryll Rogers. Vice President Sharon Klug welcomed Club members to the meeting.

After a brief business meeting concluded, a paper by Nicki Schoenl on Westminster Abbey was presented.

Her report noted:

Westminster Abbey was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 recognizing its’ historical, religious, and political significance for the UK and the world. It is located in the heart of London, right next to Big Ben, the River Thames, and the Houses of Parliament. Westminster Abbey is one of the most famous and complex churches in existence. It has a special status called a Royal Peculiar meaning it is directly run by a dean and not a bishop. Westminster Abbey does not receive funding from the Church, the Crown, or the government but instead relies almost entirely on tourism and donations to maintain the site.

Every year more than 1.5 million visitors come to tour the Abbey from all of the world. Westminster Abbey is an architectural, predominately Gothic, masterpiece with its flying buttresses and stunning glass windows. Building of the current church began around 1245 but a religious building has stood on the site since at least 960.

Westminster Abbey, as we see it today, is largely the ambitious design of Henry III who built it in Edward the Confessors’ honor. It contains over eight centuries of intricate monuments, sculpture, and paintings as well as elaborate tombs and memorials. Westminster Abbey remains today, what it has been from the beginning, a living church, a place of Christian worship.

Thousands of people each week attend services-morning prayer, twice daily Eucharist, and a special twilight service called Evensong. The Westminster choir is among one of the best choirs of its type in the world.

Over the course of history, Westminster Abbey became the place where the rich and successful were commemorated. Westminster Abbey is also the place where kings and queens are crowned.

William the Conqueror was the first to be crowned here in 1066 and King Charles and Queen Camilla the most recent in 2023. Westminster Abbey has been the site of many royal weddings, the latest being that of Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2011. It is also the site of elaborate funerals. The most recent State funeral was that of Queen Elizabeth II in Sept. 2022. In the past, many royal funerals have taken place in Westminster Abbey prior to burial there. There are thirteen kings, four ruling queens, eleven queens married to kings, and two other queens buried in Westminster Abbey.

The last monarch that was buried there was George II in 1760. If you have the opportunity to visit Westminster Abbey, there are self-guided maps that direct you through the Abbey. Poets’ Corner is one of the best-known areas of Westminster Abbey. It is a place of pilgrimage for literature lovers. More than 100 poets and writers are buried or have memorials here. There is also a Scientists’ Corner commemorating scientists such as Sir Issac Newton and Charles Darwin.

Near Newton are the ashes of Stephen Hawking. Along with viewing the tombs and memorials of kings and queens, some other special areas visitors may choose to explore include the Cloisters, the High Altar, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries, the Lady Chapel, the Chapter House, and the Pyx Chamber.