England's kings and queens have been crowned and buried in London's Westminster Abbey since 1066. It also has been the site of royal weddings, including Queen Elizabeth II in 1947 and Prince William of Wales in 2011. With more than 3,000 tombs in the Abbey, the church is filled with monuments to some of Britain and the world's most important citizens.

Poets' Corner

William Shakespeare is buried in his hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon, but his monument greets visitors near the entrance to Poets' Corner. It shows the playwright with his arm resting on a stack of books. Many of the most important British writers are buried or have monuments in Poets' corner, in the south transept. Those so honored include Milton, Keats, Shelley, Henry James, T.S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas, Rudyard Kipling and George Eliot. Chaucer was the first poet buried in the Abbey, in 1400, and he had kept apartments there as an employee of the Kings Work. Charles Dickens wrote in his will the desire to have his "name be inscribed in plain English letters" on his tomb; in honor of his wishes, his monument is a small stone with a simple inscription.

War and Political Monuments

Monuments to two great Victorian politicians, Prime Ministers Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone, are in the north transept. The two were political rivals; however, in death their white marble statues, depicting the men standing, are similar and stand in close proximity. Gladstone's monument was unveiled in 1903. Space considerations following its installation have meant the majority of memorials that have followed come in the form of tablets, floor stones or windows. Winston Churchill is not buried in the Abbey, but his green marble memorial stone stands near the west door in tribute to the prime minister who guided Britain through World War II. Nearby is the tomb of the Unknown Warrior, which commemorates those who died during World War I. The Abbey sustained some damage from bombing during World War II, including the loss of several windows. The Royal Air Force Chapel has a Battle of Britain memorial window, unveiled in 1947.

Modern Martyrs

In 1998 the Abbey unveiled 10 statues as monuments to modern martyrs from different continents and different religious denominations. Among the most famous are American Martin Luther King Jr., assassinated in 1968, and Salvadorean Archbishop Oscar Romero, killed in 1980. Others include Father Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish Catholic priest who traded his life for that of a Jewish prisoner at Auschwitz Concentration Camp; Wang Zhimeng, a Chinese evangelist killed during the Cultural Revolution; and Ugandan Janani Luwan, an Anglican archbishop killed during Idi Amin's rule.

Famous Scientists

Sir Isaac Newton has a large monument complete with several marble statues. Although Charles Darwin, famous for his theories of evolution, was an agnostic, he is buried in the Abbey in 1882 under a simple white marker. His family erected a bronze monument, with a life-sized relief bust, in the north choir aisle hear his grave. Physicist and mathematician Lord Kelvin is buried just south of Isaac Newton, and a memorial stained glass window erected in is honor depicts figures of King Henry V and Abbot William Colchester together with Kelvin's coat of arms and those of Glasgow University, where he was educated and was a professor. Engineers in Great Britain and America donated the window.

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