28 ウェストミンスター寺院竣工♪

1065年12月28日に、ウェストミンスター寺院が聖別された♪

もともとは7世紀、川に囲まれた「茨の島」に東サクソンのシーベルト王が聖ペテロを祭る教会を立てた。だから正式名は今でも「ウエストミンスターにある聖ペテロ教会」。

その後ベネディクト派の修道院になり、11世紀にエドワード懺悔王が自分の埋葬場所として再建、1065年12月28日に、ロマネスク様式の壮麗な教会が竣工し、聖別式が行われた♪

あくる年の新年早々の、1066年１月にエドワードは亡くなり、希望どおりここに葬られ、跡継ぎのウイリアム征服王の戴冠式も行われた。以来、ここが英国王家の冠婚葬祭の場となったんだ。


13世紀にヘンリー3世がフランス風に改築するがお金がなくなり、16世紀に東側、18世紀に西の塔と、現在の姿になるまで延々500年間の放置、改築が繰り返された♪

　　　　　　　　　　　↓　エドワード懺悔王

ちなみに日本でも多くの学校で使用されている始業、終業のチャイムの音階は、同寺院のために1927年に作曲された「ウェストミンスターの鐘」が元になってるんだヨ♪　

Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, is a large, mainly Gothic abbey church in the City of Westminster, London, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the most notable religious buildings in the United Kingdom and has been the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English and, later, British monarchs. Between 1540 and 1556 the abbey had the status of a cathedral. Since 1560, however, the building is no longer an abbey nor a cathedral, having instead the status of a "Royal Peculiar"—a church responsible directly to the sovereign. The building itself is the original abbey church.

According to a tradition first reported by Sulcard in about 1080, a church was founded at the site (then known as Thorn Ey (Thorn Island)) in the 7th century, at the time of Mellitus, a Bishop of London. Construction of the present church began in 1245, on the orders of King Henry III.

Since 1066, when Harold Godwinson and William the Conqueror were crowned, the coronations of English and British monarchs have been held here. There have been at least 16 royal weddings at the abbey since 1100. Two were of reigning monarchs (Henry I and Richard II), although, before 1919, there had been none for some 500 years.