Tourist trail

A lot of visitors to London get confused and, when what they really want is Westminster Abbey, they find themselves at the Roman Catholic Westminster Cathedral.

But all is not lost, because the cathedral is a pretty intriguing building. New-ish, obviously, but in a rather glorious Byzantine style.

It was started in 1895. The architect, John Bentley, wanted to build in a Gothic style but the Archbishop overruled him: Catholicism had only relatively recently been formally permitted in England (1829, in fact), and he didn't want anyone to accuse his church of trying to compete with Westminster Abbey.

He specified a Romanesque basilica, but was then persuaded by Bentley to go Byzantine. 

Although the fabric of the cathedral was completed in 1910 or thereabouts, the interior decor was not. It was planned to finish that over decades, giving subsequent generations a chance to add "their" mark to the cathedral. So, today, a glance upwards from the glistening marble of the lower walls reveals the dark, raw brickwork overhead.

But that marble is really something. I don't think any other church in England comes close for the variety and quality of the marble. It is quite extraordinary.

And there are side-chapels along each wall; some of those have been decorated, and here it is possible to get a feel for the richness envisaged for the finished cathedral.

While some of the mosaicists were more skilled than others, the overall effect is almost overwhelming.

And the detail on the best mosaics is amazing:

Fortunately, the cathedral was being built at the same time that brilliant sculptor Eric Gill was active. Having converted to Catholicism he was anxious to make a mark, and his stations of the cross are absolutely superb:

There is a danger that they are overshadowed by the sheer gaudy mass of the mosaic, though:

Close-up, some of this stuff is very fine indeed:

Each side chapel has a different design and feel, depending on the age when it was commissioned:

This one, for instance, features utterly amazing Art Nouveau woodwork:

Pevsner describes this as among the finest craftsmanship anywhere in Europe at this time.

Though he was clearly in love with it all: he wrote that "the interior is without doubt one of the most moving of any church in London", after quoting Norman Shaw's remark that it was "the finest church that has been built [in England] for centuries".

Those lost tourists probably don't realise how lucky they are.

PS: Apologies for the appalling quality of most of these images -- it is insanely dark inside the cathedral, though that does add to the rather splendid atmosphere.