The 16th-century historian John Leland called the Henry VII Lady Chapel ‘the wonder of the world’ and it continues to inspire wonder amongst those who visit it today. It’s a glorious example of late medieval architecture with a spectacular fan-vaulted ceiling.
It is the burial place of fifteen kings and queens including Elizabeth I, Mary I, Mary Queen of Scots and what is thought to be the remains of Edward V and Richard Duke of York, the "Princes in the Tower". Below the central aisle is the Hanoverian vault where George II and members of his family are buried. The Stuart vault is in the south aisle where Charles II, William III and Mary II, and Queen Anne lie buried.
Henry VII lavished huge sums on his new Lady Chapel, which was begun in 1503 but not completed until 1516, nearly six years after his death. Henry’s imposing tomb at the east end of the chapel has magnificent gilt bronze effigies of the king and his wife, Elizabeth of York, made by the brilliant Florentine Renaissance sculptor, Pietro Torrigiano. The king and queen lie in a vault below their monument, together with James I. The bronze screen is by Thomas Ducheman. Henry's mother Lady Margaret Beaufort also has a tomb designed by Torrigiano in the south aisle. (westminster-abbey.org)作者: ngsunyu 时间: 2020-9-20 00:35 本帖最后由 ngsunyu 于 2020-9-20 00:38 编辑
The Nave (西敏寺中殿) is at the western end of the Abbey and contains the graves and memorials of many famous people.
When Henry III died in 1272 his magnificent new Gothic Abbey was not complete and so it remained attached to the old Norman nave until building work could begin again in 1376. The master mason was Henry Yevele who followed closely the earlier Gothic style of architecture although the decoration was not as lavish as in the eastern part of the church. So the present nave was nearly 150 years in building and was finally completed in 1517. Flying buttresses on the exterior take the thrust of the walls and this enabled the roof to be raised to a height of 101 feet (31 metres).
The decorated screen leading into the Quire includes a monument to Sir Isaac Newton, who is buried just in front of it. The organ is placed on top of the screen, with cases designed by J.L. Pearson.
Among the famous people buried in the nave are Charles Darwin, David Livingstone, Field Marshal Wade, Major Andre, Thomas Telford, Sir Charles Barry, Clement Attlee and Professor Stephen Hawking. At the west end is the grave of the Unknown Warrior,surrounded by red poppies. This commemorates the many thousands killed in the 1914-1918 war who have no known grave.
The First World War and its aftermath had a significant impact on Westminster Abbey as a place of memorialisation. Even before the end of the war in 1918, the Abbey held special services of remembrance for those who had died, and the burial of the Unknown Warrior in the nave, on 11th November 1920, provided a unique and abiding focus for remembrance within the church.
The grave is covered by a slab of black Belgian marble. On it is the following inscription, composed by Herbert Ryle, Dean of Westminster:
Beneath this stone rests the body
Of a British warrior
Unknown by name or rank
Brought from France to lie among
The most illustrious of the land
And buried here on Armistice Day
11 Nov: 1920, in the presence of
His majesty King George V
His ministers of state
The chiefs of his forces
And a vast concourse of the nation
Thus are commemorated the many
Multitudes who during the great
War of 1914-1918 gave the most that
Man can give life itself
For God
For King and country
For loved ones home and empire
For the sacred cause of justice and
The freedom of the world
They buried him among the kings because he
Had done good toward god and toward
His house (Westminster-abbey.org) 作者: ngsunyu 时间: 2020-9-20 00:38
牛頓之墓位於西敏寺中殿，墓地上方聳立著一尊牛頓的雕像，其石像倚坐在一堆書籍上。身邊有兩位天使，還有一個巨大的地球造型以紀念他在科學上的功績。