Her Majesty The Queen becomes Patron of Westminster Abbey's Sacristy project
Tuesday, 18th June 2024
HM The Queen has become Patron of a project to create a new building at Westminster Abbey – to be named The King Charles III Sacristy in honour of HM The King – which will transform the welcome offered to the millions of people who come from around the world to enjoy one of the world’s great churches.
The building will be constructed on the footprint of Henry III's medieval Great Sacristy. Built in the 1250s and an integral part of Henry's church, the Sacristy was where the monks kept vestments, altar linens and other artefacts needed for their daily worship, allowing the Abbey itself to be preserved in all its beauty and wonder as a sacred space. There are indications that the Sacristy also played a crucial role in the life of the Abbey as a place for the formation of processions on church and state occasions.
A modern welcome on a medieval footprint
Designed in sympathy with the Abbey's Gothic architecture by the Abbey's Surveyor of the Fabric, Ptolemy Dean – who also designed the award-winning tower for The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries – the new building will reflect the history of the original Sacristy by freeing the Abbey for worship and pilgrimage. It will once again serve as a gathering place on major state occasions, and will house state-of-the-art welcome, ticketing and security facilities, replacing those currently occupying the north transept.
The project will also see visitors and worshippers following in the footsteps of royalty by entering the Abbey through the now fully-accessible entrance at the Great West Door. From here, they will enjoy magnificent views of the full length of the church and be inspired by the Abbey as it really is: a House of God and a House of Kings.
A building fit for a King
The Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle, said:
This splendid building, which is both new and old, will transform the welcome our visitors receive and, more importantly, change the way they see Westminster Abbey. The full drama of this shrine and house of memory is best appreciated by approaching it from the Great West Doors. The transepts and aisles will emerge calmer and more graceful as we move chairs and ticketing booths out of the Abbey. It is a building fit for a King and for an Abbey whose faith and ministry is both old and new.
Fundraising for the £13 million project has already begun, and the construction phase is due to start towards the end of 2024. It is hoped that the new building will be completed in 2026.
