Churches of old

On Friday morning, after only 4 hours of sleep, I forced myself out of bed so that I would have plenty of time to visit Westminster Abbey before I had to be back at my hotel room to take a conference call in the afternoon and then work the rest of the afternoon. It's a good thing that I'm a planner and that I typically try to arrive early rather than late, because if I had not left the hotel when I did, I would have never made it there and back in time for my meeting. Two of the main subway lines were closed down due to a police investigation. It made me wonder what they were investigating. (Later I found out that there was a body found on one of the tracks over night and so the police had do to some crime scene investigation. Yikes!!) So I had to put on my thinking cap and devise alternate routes to get to Westminster Abbey. My trek that morning took me almost an hour and a half. Plus, when I was coming home, said subway lines were still delayed so it took me another hour to get back to my hotel. Anyways, I digress...

Besides not being a traditional person, I'm not really a religious person either. But the one really strange thing about me is that I absolutely love the old churches and cathedrals found in Europe. It doesn't matter who, what, when, where or why, if there's a church or cathedral, I must see it. So as you can imagine, Westminster Abbey was at the top of my list. I'm so happy that I was able to visit.

I didn't know much about the history of Westminster Abbey, but I learned a lot of interesting and inspiring facts. There are parts of the church which are over 1000 years old. Before it was ever a practicing church, it was a monastery. To this day, they still have a boys choir and school affiliated with the church. Furthermore, a ton of people are buried at Westminster Abbey. Of course, all of the kings and queens of old are there, plus some of their kinfolk. However, most notably (and surprising to me), both Chaucer and Handel are buried there. They have their own memorials in the church. During my tour, they played an excerpt from Handel's Messiah. I forgot how much that music moves me. As I said, I'm not very religious anymore, but the music still gives me goosebumps. Sometimes I really miss singing and playing music. That was definitely one of those times I was feeling extremely nostalgic.

As I was touring Westminster Abbey, it finally dawned on me why I love churches so much. First of all, I find the architecture and design to be incomparable to anything else. You never see the same kind of gothic and ornate design in any other kind of building. But even more so, compare a building, for instance Tower of London, that was built in the same time as the church, in this case Westminster Abbey. The differences are night and day. Granted, the Tower of London was built for an entirely different purpose and was built with the intent of being a fortress against attackers and to protect the king. But the details in the church are unimaginable. There were even parts of the church which took over 400 years to complete because the various kings kept running out of money. But for what purpose must you build such an ornate building?!? Is it really for the glory of your god? Or is it for your glory so you can boast about it? I guess that's what I find so confounding about these old churches and cathedrals. Here they are spending tons of money to build such a grand place of worship and yet people are going hungry. The same is still true today. Ahhh...the many hypocrisies of religion... Let's not get started.

Once again, when touring Westminster Abbey, I was amazed at the traditions and rituals that have held fast over the many years. Every coronation for the last 700 years was held at Westminster Abbey. If I remember correctly, all weddings have also taken place there as well. I think it is amazing to be part of a society and culture which is so riddled with tradition. I don't know if I would appreciate it if were my heritage the way I appreciate it as an outsider. One of the really cool things was that during some of the restorations on parts of the church, they uncovered some of the original gothic wall paintings which were over 800 years old. It was really amazing to be able to see that!

Even considering my own personal beliefs on religion and putting that aside, Westminster Abbey was by far the most gorgeous church I have visited thus far in my travels. It's in a league all of its own. When I go back to London, I would like to go again but go with a real tour guide. Unfortunately, I was pressed for time and unable to take the guided tour. It's amazing to think that there are buildings older than my great country of America or my adopted country of Canada. Westminster Abbey, well-done in preserving your country's heritage and history!