Our Lady of Westminster
Our Lady of Westminster is a medieval alabaster statue of the Virgin Mary with the child Jesus. It stands at the entrance to the Lady Chapel in Westminster Cathedral, London. The statue is about 91 cm tall, flat‑backed, and Mary is shown crowned and seated on a throne with Jesus on her right knee. Mary holds a broken scepter in her left hand, while Jesus looks up, holds a globe with one hand, and blesses with the other.
Most experts think it was carved near Nottingham around 1450 from local Chellaston alabaster. It was likely made to be part of an altarpiece in a wooden frame, which explains its flat back and bright colors designed to be seen in candlelight. The bright polychromy would have helped it stand out in a dim church.
For centuries the statue travelled and was exported to France, where many Nottingham alabaster works were popular. It stayed in France until the upheavals of the French Revolution, later passing into private collections. In 1954 a dealer, S. W. Wolsey, bought it in Paris, and it drew attention at Westminster. Cardinal Griffin won a bidding contest, and the statue was installed in Westminster Cathedral on 8 December 1955, with the choir singing the Salve Regina.
The statue is one of Westminster Cathedral’s greatest treasures and the oldest item in the building’s 19th‑century foundation. Its connection to the broader Dowry of Mary tradition at Westminster goes back to the late 14th century, when an alabaster statue of the Virgin Mary was placed in a chapel at Westminster Abbey, and to the royal encouragement of Marian devotion by Richard II after his encounter with rebels at Westminster in 1381.
A later, 20th‑century parallel at Westminster Abbey is the Our Lady of Pew statue (1971), inspired by this older English alabaster work.
Today, Our Lady of Westminster remains a vivid reminder of the medieval English devotion to Mary and of the craft of Nottingham alabaster carvers, known for their bright, candle‑lit altarpieces.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 20:04 (CET).