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The first
A king rebuilt it as a church to be buried in
Edward the Confessor rebuilt the abbey from 1042 to 1052 as a royal burial church, and it was consecrated on 28 December 1065. Since 1066, 40 English and British monarchs have been crowned there.
40English and British monarchs crowned here since 1066
The rebuild
Henry III began again in 1245, in the French style
Construction of the present church began on 6 July 1245. Henry III wanted a shrine to Edward to match great French churches such as Reims Cathedral and the Sainte-Chapelle, and up to 400 workers were on the site at a time. It was consecrated on 13 October 1269.
The floor
A floor of almost 30,000 pieces, where kings are crowned
In front of the high altar is the Cosmati pavement, a 700-year-old tile floor of almost 30,000 pieces of coloured glass and stone. It is almost 25 feet square, and coronations take place on it. Richard Ware brought the stone and artists from Rome in 1258.
30,000pieces of coloured glass and stone in the Cosmati pavement
The ceiling
A vault dressed up as a fan vault
The Henry VII Chapel was begun in 1503, and its main structure was finished by 1509. Its ceiling looks like a fan vault but is a groin vault disguised as one, and the walls carry 95 statues of saints, rare survivors of the 17th century.
“...achieved with the wonderful minuteness and airy security of a cobweb”
Washington Irving, on the Henry VII Chapel ceiling
Day 1, morning
Next is Houses of Parliament and Big Ben.
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The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Westminster Abbey, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.