Westminster Cathedral

Today was quite busy for me.  After class in the morning, I walked down to Westminster Cathedral.  Now, I have already been to Westminster Abbey, so I decided to visit the other large church in that area.  This church, though, is Catholic, and much newer.  Catholicism was actually illegal in this country for a very long time, and mementos recognizing this were littered all over the cathedral.  Hundreds of martyrs were killed in Catholic prosecutions, and were recognized here.  Also, it had some of the most ornate, yet not tacky (like in some parts of Westminster Abbey) decoration I have seen in any religious institutions as of yet.  The paintings were stunning and brightly coloured, and golden mosaics covered many of the side chapels.

As it is Ash Wednesday, I expected the cathedral to be abuzz with activity-- to see people getting their ashes.  I saw no one all day.  People were attending confession, but no one got ashes.  I suppose that is not a particularly large deal here, like it is in the US.

In any case, I was thoroughly impressed by Westminster Cathedral.  I might attend a concert there at some point.  I'd love to hear how the acoustics there work, given all of the metallic mosaic tiles.

 

  

  

  

  

 

  

  

  

One of the strangest things about this museum, however, were the two bird motifs on the entrance to the chapel containing the holy sacraments.  There was a peacock and a phoenix.  I have never seen either one of these appear before in any kind of Christian iconology.  I possibly might have what my Renaissance Art professor calls iconoclasmophrenia, or I might be looking too far into things in an effort to find unintended symbols. But, I found this odd. 

 

 

More about what I did today to come.