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A Children's Cathedral

"A really amazing building
- different from any church I’ve seen."

"I know Westminster Cathedral quite well now. The first time I went inside I was expecting a bigger version of the average parish church. I suppose some basic features are the same. There is an altar, rows of seats, a big cross - but what makes it different is the size - Westminster Cathedral is really huge. When you first walk in, your eyes have to adjust to the light - especially if it’s sunny outside. The dark domes above you are so far up (like the night sky but without the stars). The far end with the altar is a long way off too - and it is even longer behind that. At first, it’s all a bit scary, but then you notice the splendour - the sheets of coloured marble that cover the lower walls, half-finished and some bits not even started!

"When they built the Cathedral 100 years ago they were hoping that people in the future - people like us - would finish all the decoration, (they especially wanted the top walls and domes to be covered with gold and coloured mosaics), so they just opened their big brick church and started using it. I don’t know what John Bentley (the architect, who died in 1902) would say if he came back today. "Oh no! My lovely cathedral and it’s still not finished!" But then he would walk around and see all the great things that artists have done so far. Lots of things he made perfect drawings for have been completed - like the marble floor in the Lady Chapel, made in the 1950s. There are so many beautiful details. I like the big red cross hanging in the middle. I like the marble canopy over the high altar which John Bentley designed so carefully. Above it there is a wide mosaic that shows Jesus Christ reigning from his kingdom in heaven. The blue background is made up of hundreds of little faces: people in heaven looking at God. But you would need binoculars to see them! The Cathedral makes everyone seem small but also safe and welcome. There are candles flickering and people walking around or sitting or kneeling to say some prayers. Not everyone like Westminster Cathedral at first, but after a while you start to like it a lot. I know I do."