Postcard from London

Westminster Abbey may be the most amazing historical sites in all of Great Britain. It is nearly 1,000 years old and has been the center of English spirituality for nearly that long.

Inside you will find the tombs of most of the famous people in British history. From Winston Churchill to Isaac Newton to Laurence Olivier, to most of the kings and queens who ruled over this land. I remember taking a walk through rear of the church where many of the royalty of English history are interred in amazing sarcophagi . I was struck by the irony of Queen Elizabeth I interred next to her arch enemy Mary, Queen of Scots. It was Elizabeth who ordered Mary’s beheading. 

Many of the memorials to the greats of British history are just that…memorial plaques and statues. The people themselves are buried someplace else. But many are indeed buried here.

The Abbey has witnessed coronations, weddings and funerals. Most recently, it was here that Prince Charles and Prince William were married…and was the site of Princess Diana’s funeral.

High above the west entrance of the church are 10 statues of 20th century martyrs. The four you see here are Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia, Martin Luther King, Oscar Romero, and Dietrich Bonheoffer. All were killed for their faith and what they believed.

Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria. While educated in Britain, she married into the Russian Royal Family and became deeply involved in the Russian Orthodox Church. She eventually sold all of her expensive possessions to help the impoverished, with a special emphasis on women. To make a long story short, she was imprisoned by the Bolsheviks and was executed the day after the Czar and his family were killed.

The story of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is well know to all of us, so I won’t repeat it here. I will say that it wasn’t until I read about these statues that I learned that it was Dr. King. Frankly, I don’t think it looks much like him.

Oscar Romero’s legacy is tied to El Salvador. Romero committed himself to the poor and the persecuted of El Salvador. As the brutal governmental regime sent death squads out into the countryside, he documented their atrocities…and in 1979, presented volumes of information to the Pope. He was murdered in 1980 in his church while celebrating mass.

Finally, the legacy of Dietrich Bonheoffer is tied to Nazi Germany. He was and ardent opponent of Hitler and his Nazi regime. He actually escaped to Britain and later America, only to return to Germany just before the outbreak of the war. He felt that a victory of Nazism in Europe would destroy Christian civilization. Again to shorten the story, Bonheoffer was eventually put into a concentration camp and executed a few days before Germany’s surrender.

I have linked each of their names to a short history of their lives on the Westminster Abbey Web site. They are all very interesting to read and one can’t help but admire their courage against injustice.

(To see a larger version of this photo, just click on the image)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com