Westminster Abbey Chapter House given massive facelift

The Westminster Abbey Chapter House, the historic birthplace of Parliament in London, has undergone a massive £3 million restoration led by English Heritage.

Prior to the restoration, the damage to one of London's oldest buildings was painfully clear as the external walls were weathered by pollution, erosion and the atmosphere. Add to that one could find tangles of ivy, crumbling parapets and mutilated gothic stonework.

However, after the major repair and conservation project led by English Heritage over the past 18 months, a team of master carvers and stone-masons have cleaned, repaired and conserved the building's original features that include artistic stonework, stained glass windows and gargoyles. The Chapter House is in the east cloister of the Abbey and is one of the most visited places in London. The historic part of the building where the King's Council first met dates back to the 13th century and was originally the place where monks and other dignitaries of monastic buildings met to transact the general business of their Order.

The House of Commons used the building until the 1500s when it became home to the first Parliament, a situation that continued until Westminster Palace was selected as a replacement in 1547. The building was first restored in Victorian times by Sir Gilbert Scott.

The Westminster Abbey Chap-ter House ranks as one of the spectacular achievements of European Gothic art. Inside one finds a building lavishly adorned with sculpture, and wall paint-ings while in the vestibule of the Chapter House is the oldest door in Britain, dated to the 1050s.