This imposing Byzantine-style structure facing Victoria Street at the back of a small pedestrian piazza is the mother-church of the diocese of Westminster. It is also the Metropolitan Church of all England and Wales; its archbishop is the ranking Roman Catholic prelate in the country. It was built just at the end of the Victorian era and the beginning of the twentieth century (1895–1903) specifically for this purpose. Cardinal Wiseman, the first archbishop of Westminster elected in 1850, had no church at all that could serve permanently as his cathedral. The church measures 360-feet deep and 156- feet wide, and the cross atop its bell tower reaches a height of 284 feet. It is constructed of brick but ingeniously retains the impression of Byzantine ornateness.
A great arch stretches over the main doorway, under which is a mosaic representing Christ our Lord holding an open book on which is written (in Latin): ‘I am the gate: if any one enters by Me he shall be saved – John 10:9’. Mary and Joseph stand on either side, and kneeling are St Peter and St Edward the Confessor. Above the arch is an inscription large enough to be read at some distance (also in Latin): ‘Lord Jesus, King and Redeemer, save us by Thy blood’.
The visitor entering Westminster Cathedral steps into a vestibule (narthex) from which an unobstructed view can be gained of the awesome 342-foot nave and, beyond, the sanctuary with its high altar and towering baldachino. Along the aisles and in the transepts are twelve chapels where mass is offered. Above are three towering domes, and from the main arch hangs a great thirty-foot rood. The eight, dark green columns that support the galleries were cut from the same quarry that supplied the marble for Santa Sophia in Istanbul. The chapels abound with works of religious art; the Chapel of the Holy Souls is said to display in completed form what the entire cathedral will someday be like. Of particular interest is the Chapel of St George and the English Martyrs, where Thomas More and John Fisher are represented in the altarpiece.