It’s also very old; it may even date back to about the 7th century but a more concrete date is from the late 10th century when Benedictine monks were resident on the site.  Construction on St. Peter’s Abbey was begun in about 1042 by Edward the Confessor.  This stage wasn’t completed until 1090 but as Edward was close to death in 1065, it was consecrated to allow for his burial soon after.  In 1066 Harold II was crowned here, followed shortly afterwards by William the Conqueror who defeated him at the battle of Hastings.  In fact the Bayeux Tapestry contains the only exterior picture of the Abbey.

Westminster Abbey on the Bayeux Tapestry

In 1245 it was Henry III who set about developing the construction which still exists to this day.  Like Edward the Confessor, he wished to be buried there and would be the first since Edward.  Construction of the Abbey was largely completed by 1517 although Henry III had died in 1272.  It was the architect Henry Yevele who oversaw most of the final years of construction in the reign of Richard II.

Westminster Abbey from the north

More bits were added to the Abbey over the subsequent centuries; Henry VII added the Blessed Virgin Mary Chapel in 1503.  While Henry VIII was knocking down many of England’s Abbeys during his reign, he conferred cathedral status on Westminster from 1540 to 1540 to spare it from this fate.  The two western towers were added in the 18th century and it underwent significant restoration in the 19th century.  The last proposed addition to Westminster was an entrance hall designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in the mid-20th century but it never went ahead.

Westminster Abbey was built and added to over many years but different parties but we can probably still apportion the original idea to Henry III.

Born around 1369, Jan Hus was a priest himself who, along with the English reformer John Wycliffe, began to question the way the church worked, theorising that it was not for the church to be the ‘middle man’ between God and his audience and that it was possible for ordinary people to communicate directly.  These ideas were the building blocks of the Reformation and it didn’t take the Catholic church long to realise the danger it posed to their enormous power.

Hus was consequently excommunicated by Pope Alexander V but his (Bohemian) government supported him, ensuring that his influence grew.  The city of Prague, where he was preaching, was put under an interdict, meaning it lost the right to partake in certain Catholic rituals.  Within Bohemia, Hus’ supporters made sure it had now become a battle between their leader and the church, burning the Papal Bulls (official church communiques) and arguing that Hus was the man to follow.

Jan Hus

By now the situation appeared to be on the verge of violence between the Catholic church and Bohemia and King Wenceslaus of Bohemia attempted to reconcile the opposing parties before the situation deteriorated further.  In 1412 a synod was held at the palace of the Archbishops in Prague (meaning Hus could not attend) and various ideas were put forward to reconcile the two parties.  Hus was unimpressed by the propositions, especially  since Bohemia did not have the same freedom as other countries in regard to religious freedoms.  John Wycliffe was more fortunate in this regard to be English.  Hus famously said that “even if I should stand before the stake which has been prepared for me, I would never accept the recommendation of the theological faculty.”

Despite this setback, the King continued to press for reconciliation while Hus and his followers continued to preach the doctrine of Reformation.  The King’s brother, Sigismund of Hungary, proposed a general council at Constance in 1414, promising Hus safe passage.  Unknown to Sigismund, Hus was consequently captured and imprisoned and after 73 days in captivity, a trial was held in June, 1415.

During this trial, Hus continued to support his own views, offering to recant if he could be proved incorrect by the bible.  King Wenceslaus finally refused to protect him, possibly seeing an end to the argument with the Catholic church and ultimately Hus was sentenced to death.  Just before he was burnt at the stake he was offered one more chance to recant but refused, saying “God is my witness that the things charged against me I never preached.  In the same truth of the Gospel which I have written, taught and preached, drawing upon the sayings and positions of the holy doctors, I am ready to die today.”

Long before Ghandi’s efforts to free India from the colonial influence of the British Empire, other individuals such as Swami Dayananda Saraswati had long espoused the “India for Indians” message.  In later life he was highly respected enough to be referred to as the one of the makers of modern India.

Swami Dayananda Saraswati

Born in 1824 in Tankara, in the state of Gujurat, Dayananda’s family were wealthy and religious Brahmins and his early life followed the somewhat standard pattern of that period;  a future as a Hindu priest awaited him and therefore he studied religious texts such as the Vedas and learned Sanskrit.

Swami Virajananda

From an early age Dayananda became aware of some of the difficult questions asked of religion and argued with his parents about the unquestionable power of the Hindu Gods. When he was still only a teenager, he escaped an arranged marriage by running away and this was to become his life for the twenty years.  He spent these two decades in a search for God, living the life of a nomadic monk until, in Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, he met Swami Virajananda who was to become his guru.

Understanding Dayananda’s problems, Virajananda urged him to start from the beginning again; to discard the diverse texts he has acquired and return to the Vedas, one of Hinduism’s foundation books.  Staying with Virajananda for around two and a half years, Dayananda finally left his tutelage and began repaying his guru by spreading the Vedas’ message in society.

Spreading the Vedic Message

What Dayananda saw around him was a Hindu faith which had become in some ways corrupt and he tackled those he saw as responsible head on.  He travelled India, challenging priests wherever he encountered them, arguing that they had moved too far away from the founding principles of Hinduism.  He was not universally popular and threats to his life were frequent.  He accused the priests of twisting the messages of the original texts to enrich themselves and in this manner they were persuading their followers to lean towards superstition and idolatry rather than the Vedic scripts.

Dayananda was not just a critic of the Hindi faith, he was interested in all religions and was equally critical of each of them.   In 1875 Dayananda founded the Arya Samaj; a reform movement based on the founding principles of the Vedas.  This was not his first attempt to establish this type of organisation – for the previous six years he had been visiting various areas to promote something similar but political problems and hostility to his ideas from the priesthood had always stood in the way.

Mumbai was his first successful attempt and in 1977 this was followed by the establishment of a similar set up in Lahore.  The Arya Samaj appealed to the entire population, not just the ruling clases and it was this influence which enabled Dayananda to voice his opinions on social reform, education for women and fair treatment for untouchables.  It also gave him the platform to campaign for self-governance.

Swami Dayananda was finally poisoned by the girlfriend of the Maharajar of Jodpur who he had criticised.  He died in 1883 and Subhas Chandra Bose, one of the most prominent figures in Indian independence said this of him:

“Swami Dayananda Saraswati is certainly one of the most powerful personalities who has shaped modern India and is responsible for it’s moral regeneration and religious revival.”

Ram Mohan Roy's Blue Plaque in London

the turn of the 19th century.  The Baptist William Carey, who had recruited Roy and who was a partner in the creation of the fake Hindi tome (see Part One), engaged Roy to undermine various tenets of Hinduism, notably the priestly Kulin class.  While the British saw this as vital Christian missionary work, Roy saw it as religious reform in his own country and subsequently refused an offer to convert.  Quite possibly he was also irked by calculations he had performed about where Indian tax money was going; half of all revenue at that point was headed out of the country and towards England.

In the 1820s his zeal for religious and social reform led him to produce a number of written works on various subjects concerning life in turn of the century India.  These included Brief Remarks on Ancient Female Rights, Prospects of Christianity in India, Answer of a Hindu to the Sacred Authorities and several treatise on the wrongs of the caste system.  Roy was also one of the leading proponents of a ban on Suttee, the practice of a widowed woman burning herself (by force or voluntarily) on her late husband’s funeral pyre.  The practice was outlawed in 1829.

It was during this period that almost all of his social reforming work was done.  Now, he is most strongly associated with the following:

• the outlawing of Suttee
• property inheritance rights for women
• the Brahmo Samaj, a Bengali organisation to push social reform
• modernising Hinduism to appear legitimate by Western standards
• arguing against child marriage and polygamy
• the use of education in social and religious reform

Many of Roy’s reforms were influenced by the British in India and he must have walked a fine line between supporting the occupiers and his own patriotism.  He finally visited England in 1830, remaining for three years before dying in 1833 near Bristol in the South West.  He is buried there in the Arnos Vale Cemetery.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy

and educational reformer.  Born either on the 22nd May 1774 or in August 1772, Roy was born into the Brahmin caste and therefore into a fairly comfortable upbringing.  His parents were notable for their marriage between different groups – his father was a Vaishnavite while his mother was a Shaivite and it was unusual for these Hindu sects to intermarry.

This religious diversity provided Roy with different influences while he was growing up, one parent urging him to become a scholar while the other wanted him to work towards a career in public administration.  Ultimately Roy chose neither of these paths; after a period in Tibet and the Himalayas he became an employee of the British East India company, prompted by his desire to learn the English language and integrate certain Western values into Indian culture.

At the same time he  became interested in the contemporary revival of the Vedanta school of philosophy and his newly acquired English language skills enabled him to translate older Vedic scriptures into English.  Occasionally his passion for Western culture pushed the limits somewhat; in 1996 the Roy, the British Baptist William Carey and Sanskrit scholar Hariharananda Vidyabagish created a tome, the Maha Nirvana Tantra (Book of Great Liberation), that purported to be a precursor of any Hindu texts. The purpose was to persuade Indians that Hinduism was based on Christianity.

Although the work was eventually discredited, notably by British magistrates when it was introduced into court proceedings regarding property law, it was still in circulation for many years and actually made money for the authors.

Roy continued his service with the British East India company, acting as a private clerk to Thomas Woodforde, Registrar of the Murshidabad Appellate Court, until 1815 when he formed the Atmiya Sabha, which attempted to pursue social and religious reforms in Indian society.

Florence Nightingale Monument - London

Following her experiences at Scutari, Florence travelled to many other army hospitals. The doctors reacted in the same way at these hospitals as they had done at Scutari but she still managed to start the process of change. She eventually collapsed with a fever due to over exhaustion and was not expected to survive.

The news shocked the people back in England who avidly followed the reports on her health. When Florence eventually recovered there was a national celebration and while she was still in the Crimea, a public meeting was held to give recognition to Florence for her work in the war which led to the establishment of the Nightingale Fund for the training of nurses. There was an outpouring of generous donations and Sidney Herbert served as honorary secretary of the fund.

By 1859 Nightingale had £45,000 at her disposal from the Nightingale Fund to set up the Nightingale Training School in 1860 (it is now called the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery).  The first trained Nightingale nurses began work at the Liverpool Workhouse Infirmary in 1865.

However, Florence was still to make a major contribution to the peoples of the world. She advised on the treatment of injured soldiers in Egypt and also advised the Americans during the duration of the Civil War. She was involved in a Royal Commission into the health problems in India which resulted in a sanitary board being set up in every province of India.

Florence Nightingale shortly before she died at the age of 90

In 1883, Nightingale was awarded the Royal Red Cross by Queen Victoria and in 1907, she became the first woman to received the Order of Merit award.  On 13 August 1910, at the age of 90, she died peacefully in her sleep.  The offer of burial in Westminister Abbey  was declined by her relatives, and she is buried in the graveyard at St. Margaret Church in East Wellow, Hampshire.

Money for medical supplies was raised by the public to be sent to the Crimea and Sidney Herbert, Britain’s Secretary of War and family friend wanted Florence to take responsibility to change the conditions in the army hospitals by taking trained female nurses to the front line, but the army did not allow women in their hospitals.

By the end of 1854, Florence and a staff of 38 women volunteer nurses, trained by Nightingale and including her aunt Mai Smith, had travelled to the army hospital at Scutari in Turkey.  There were a huge number of injured soldiers, hardly any of which were receiving even basic care and treatment for their injuries. Despite this, the male army doctors still refused to allow Florence and her nurses to help at all.

Then, at the battle of Balaclava, many men were killed and injured. The hospital was overrun with seriously injured soldiers and Florence and her nurses were allowed to help them;  they provided clean bedding and bandages for the soldiers and cared for the injured and dying soldiers, but the doctors still restricted what Florence was allowed to do.

The situation was desperate and eventually the male army doctors gave Nightingale a free hand to organize the hospital. She changed the wards, the kitchens and the bedding. She provided clean clothes for the soldiers, and even arranged for one derelict wing of the hospital to be rebuilt.

It was also during the Crimean war that Florence Nightingale gained the nickname ‘The Lady of the Lamp’ because she was continually checking all parts of the hospital day and night.  ‘The Times’ newspaper reported:

“She is a ‘ministering angel’ without any exaggeration in these hospitals, and as her slender form glides quietly along each corridor, every poor fellow’s face softens with gratitude at the sight of her. When all the medical officers have retired for the night and silence and darkness have settled down upon those miles of prostrate sick, she may be observed alone, with a little lamp in her hand, making her solitary rounds”.

Florence Nightingale was born on 12th May 1820 in Florence, Italy.  She was the second daughter of a well-off English family who went to Florence for her birth and subsequently named her after the city.

Florence did not like the social scene that she and her family were involved in and instead wanted to do something positive with her life, and when she was sixteen years old her life would change forever.

Inspired by what she took as a call from God she announced her decision to enter nursing, despite the intense anger and distress of her family (the expected role for a woman of her status was to become a wife and mother).

Despite the opposition from her family and the restrictive societal code for affluent young English women, Nightingale worked hard to educate herself in the art and science of nursing.  Whilst she resisted the pressure from her family to do “the right thing” by getting married to someone rich, her attempts to care for needy people were still heavily restricted. Then her grandmother became ill and Florence cared for her until her death. This opened her families’ eyes to her caring and compassionate nature and she had more freedom to help others, although her father still refused to allow her to serve as a nurse in the local hospital.  This was because nurses had a very different role at that time and even maids and servants looked down on them.

However, in 1853, Florence was allowed to accept a public service post as superintendent at the Institute for the Care of Sick Gentlewomen in Upper Harley Street, London.  When he saw the dedication and determination of Florence in carrying out the job, her father even gave her an annual income of £500 (roughly £40,000 in present terms), which allowed her to live comfortably and to pursue her career.

Tyndale was born in Gloucestershire in around 1494 and was educated at Oxford and Cambridge where he became a strong supporter of church reform. He was ordained as a priest in about 1521 and returned to Gloucestershire to serve as a chaplain to a member of the local gentry.

Tyndale’s controversial opinions attracted the attention of the church authorities, so in 1523 he moved to London. His intention was to translate the New Testament into English, which was strictly forbidden at the time, as he was convinced that the clergy knew very little about the Bible; many were unable to speak Latin which was the only language that the Roman church allowed.  Tyndale therefore became determined to produce an English copy of the Bible that “even a ploughboy could understand”.

He was forced to Germany to work on the translation and by 1525 he had completed the New Testament. It was printed under the continual threat of discovery and persecution and had to be smuggled into England.  The work was denounced by the Roman Catholic church authorities; they burnt every copy they could and people found with them faced death.

The Execution of William Tyndale

Next, Tyndale began work on a translation of the Old Testament and in 1534, he moved to Antwerp where he was able to live more openly.  However in 1535, he was betrayed, arrested and jailed in the castle of Vilvoorde outside Brussels for over a year.  On 6 October 1536, he was tried for heresy, strangled and burnt at the stake.

His translation of the Old Testament remained unfinished at his death, but formed the basis of the King James version of the bible.  One estimation suggests the Old Testament in the King James version is 76% Tyndales, and the New Testament is 83%.

The Geometric Staircase in the Cathedral will house a remarkable installation, entitled “Perspectives”, which has been designed by British architect, John Pawson, in collaboration with Swarovski, as part of the London Design Festival which starts at St Paul’s this Saturday.

The intention is to turn this extraordinary spatial volume into its own viewing device. The installation will be a concave Swarovski crystal meniscus – the largest commissionable lens – which will be located at the bottom of the stairwell. This lens will sit on a much larger reflective surface – the upper plane of a specially fabricated metal hemisphere (1200mm in diameter and 675mm in height). A 2m wide spherical convex mirror will be suspended in the tower’s cupola, directly over the hemisphere. Acting in concert, these optical devices will result in a composite image of the view up through the tower and an elevated downward perspective appearing to visitors who will be gathered round the hemisphere.

Talking about his work, John Pawson said “St Paul’s is one of the most recognisable buildings in the country. Inevitably it’s the grand architectural moves which everyone knows – the west elevation, the nave and the dome. In collaboration with Swarovski, I have been given the chance to turn the focus on a less familiar element – the Geometric Staircase – which is a detail, but also a complete architectural moment in its own right. The cathedral is an immensely complex work of architecture and the temptation when you visit is to try to take in everything. This is about offering a spatial experience based around a single, sharply honed perspective. The form this experience takes is shaped by Wren’s own interest in creating scientific instruments out of buildings.”

The spiralling Geometric Staircase connects the Dean’s door to the upper levels of the cathedral and is normally closed to the public.  However during the London Design Festival (Monday 19th September to Friday 23rd September 2011), visitors will be able to access Perspectives through the Dean’s door via the entrance in the South Churchyard of the cathedral.

Once the London Design Festival has finished, you will still be able to see the installation up until the end of the year as regular guided access will be made available to visitors during normal sightseeing hours.