Westminster Abbey Floor Mosaic

The wraps have come off one of westminster abbey s least known treasures a medieval marble pavement foretelling the end of the world while conservation experts consider how to preserve the.

Westminster abbey floor mosaic.

The complexity and subtlety of the design and workmanship can be seen nowhere else on this scale. It is made up from 92 759 tesserae. 1745 under the direction of sir nicholas hawksmoor. Cosmatesque or cosmati is a style of geometric decorative inlay stonework typical of the architecture of medieval italy and especially of rome and its surroundings.

The great pavement in front of the high altar of westminster abbey is a unique and remarkable object. It was used most extensively for the decoration of church floors but was also used to decorate church walls pulpits and bishop s thrones the name derives from the cosmati the leading family workshop of craftsmen in rome who. Followed an earlier phase of lead glazed mosaic floor tile manufacture in the 1230s and 1240s. Oct 21 2012 explore alwyn ladell s board cosmati pavement followed by 257 people on pinterest.

Presents a holistic study of an outstanding group of monuments mosaic pavements tombs and shrines in their historical architectural and archaeological context. Someone who knows them well is. The western towers of westminster abbey london completed c. Legend relates that saberht the first christian king of the east saxons founded a church on a small island in the river thames then known as thorney but later called the west minster or monastery and that.

History archaeology architecture and conservation by warwick rodwell and by david s. The cosmatesque mosaics of westminster abbey the pavements and royal tombs. The cosmati were a roman family seven members of which for four generations were skilful architects sculptors and workers in decorative geometric mosaic mostly for church floors their name is commemorated in the genre of cosmatesque work often just called cosmati a technique of opus sectile cut work formed of elaborate inlays of small triangles and rectangles of colored stones and. Westminster tiles could be fired more easily and were quicker to lay and they were used by many monastic orders and.

Medieval westminster floor tiles explores the most common type of medieval floor tiles found in london the westminster abbey. A medieval type of marble pavement known as cosmati covers the floor in front of westminster s high altar embedded with thousands of pieces of mosaic and porphyry that form an intricate design. It was laid down in 1268 by order of henry iii who had started re building edward the confessor s abbey in the new gothic style in 1245.