Westminster Cathedral

Westminster Cathedral, formally the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, is the largest Catholic church in England and Wales. It serves as the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster and was built between 1895 and 1903 on land purchased in 1885. The cathedral is dedicated to the Blood of Christ. Designed by John Francis Bentley in a 9th-century Christian neo-Byzantine style, the building is made almost entirely of brick without steel reinforcements. Sir John Betjeman called it "a masterpiece in striped brick and stone". Visitors can admire the distinctive striped bricks and intricate interior, and the cathedral has received papal visits from Pope John Paul II in 1982 and Pope Benedict XVI in 2010.