Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey Synopsis

This title was first published in 2002. Westminster Abbey: The Cosmati pavements is the first in-depth examination of Westminster Abbey's two beautiful and mysterious inlaid pavements. Who made them, and when? Why did the King and Abbot have them brought from Rome? Mostly made up of recycled stones from ancient Roman buildings, the pavement on which monarchs have been crowned since the thirteenth century has an inscription predicting the end of the world, linking the distant past and the remote future with complex symbolism. This collection of essays places the pavements within a variety of contexts - the evolution of the luxury pavement in Europe, the political background to the commission, the significance of Roman connections, the structure and meaning of the curious inscription - and describes the physical makeup of the pavements and their complex history of damage and restoration. Bringing together a group of penetrating analyses from leading scholars, the volume illuminates hitherto unexamined areas of debate whilst also raising new and intriguing questions about them.