On Tuesday, we took a trip to Westminster Abbey. This Gothic-styled cathedral is filled with colorful windows and ceilings reminiscent of the 1500's. Upon entering, we were told strictly to not use a camera, but I managed to sneak three pictures in anyways.
Many family members of the royalty are buried here with the coffins and tombstones clearly visible. On top of their coffins is a replica of the person buried. And the artists would make these metallic replicas when the person was in their prime, so they can look their best. They wouldn't want to be remembered as a grandma with fallen out teeth and barely any hair left. Now, many other famous people are buried here like Charles Darwin (which I'm still perplexed about) and poet Geoffrey Chaucer.
On the coffins of the royaly were miniature statues of angels, who were meant to guide the persons soul up to the heavens. Angie was telling us that when the puritans came through the town, they vandalized all the churches. An example was what they did to these angels: they either defaced them, completely scraping off the face leaving a very eerie figure standing, or cut their heads off leaving a headless body. They also scraped off all of the paint on the walls and statues, leaving a very decayed look.
Although I am not the religious type, I especially love religious artwork and history. The acts that people went through back in the day to ensure a hypothetical after life is amazing, such as donating lots of money to the church right before you died or wanting to be buried close to the royal family so their souls can give you an extra edge in making it up to Heaven. Regardless, the architecture, portraits, and overall aesthetics of churches astound me.
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