Westminster Cathedral, Catholic cathedral in Westminster, London, England
Westminster Cathedral is a Catholic cathedral in Westminster, London, with a tower reaching 87 meters and an overall length of 110 meters. The façade uses red brick in Byzantine and Romanesque Revival styles, while the interior is partly decorated with marble and mosaics.
Work began in 1895 following plans by architect John Francis Bentley, who chose Byzantine models for the building. The consecration took place in June 1910, though the interior decoration has never been fully completed.
The name honors Westminster as a historic center of Catholic life in London, while the architecture deliberately adopts Byzantine forms to distinguish itself from Gothic Anglican churches. Visitors today witness regular worship and religious ceremonies in a space whose unfinished state creates a particular character.
Access is from Francis Street, and visiting is possible daily, though services and prayer times may affect visitor flow. The interior areas are largely accessible, but some chapels remain reserved for quiet devotion during liturgy.
The interior walls show large areas of bare brickwork because the originally planned marble cladding was never funded. This unfinished state now gives the space a rough aesthetic that differs markedly from other European cathedrals.
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