Westminster Abbey

Today is my 23^rd  day in London and today I visited Westminster Abbey.

In 960 AD, Benedictine monks founded Westminster Abbey and it was used as a place for Christian worship. To this day, it keeps that tradition and welcomes everyone to participate in prayer every hour. Westminster Abbey is a Collegiate Church in the city of Westminster, London, United Kingdom. Since the year 1066, it has been the main location for coronations. Forty English monarchs have been crowned king or queen at Westminster Abbey. The most recent coronation was the coronation of King Charles III on May 6^th, 2023. The Westminster Abbey is also the burial site for seventeen British and Scottish monarchs such as: Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Mary I. It is also the burial site for over one hundred poets and writers such as: Geoffrey Chaucer and Ben Johnson, and for one unidentified British soldier who fought in World War I. Westminster Abbey has also been the venue for sixteen royal weddings. The most memorable weddings being the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981, and the wedding of Prince William and Katherine Middleton in 2011.

While touring Westminster Abbey, I was surprised that poets and writers were buried or had plaques at the Abbey. I only thought that royalty was buried there. However, in the year 1760, King George II became the last monarch to be buried in the Abbey because of the lack of space. Monarchs then started to be buried at St. George’s chapel or Windsor Castle instead, and Westminster Abbey became the burial site for many famous poets and writers. One of these famous writers was Charles Dickens. Charles Dickens was born on February 7^th, 1812, in Portsmouth, United Kingdom. Not only was Dickens a writer, but also a social critic who created many famous fictional characters and stories that we still know today. Such as Ebenezer Scrooge in the cautionary tale, A Christmas Carol. The poet Robert Browning is also buried at Westminster Abbey. He was born on May 7^th, 1812, in Camberwell, London, United Kingdom. Browning was known for his dramatic monologues, dark humor, and irony. His most notable works are The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Men and Women, The Ring and the Book, and Dramatis Personae. Browning died on December 12^th, 1889, at the age of 77 in Venice, Italy. Another famous writer that is buried at the Abbey is Sir Isaac Newton. Sir Isaac Newton was born on January 4^th, 1643, in Woolsthrope-by-Colsterworth, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom. He was an author, a mathematician, an astronomer, a physicist, and a theologian. Newton is most known for having invented Calculus in the 1660s, and later in his life, formulating the theory of gravity. Newton died in his sleep on March 31^st, 1727 at the age of 84.