Westminster Abbey, formally titled the
Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, is a large, mainly
Gothic abbey church in the
City of Westminster, London, located just to the west of the
Palace of Westminster. It is one of the most notable religious buildings in the United Kingdom and has been the traditional place of
coronation and burial site for
English and, later,
British monarchs. Between 1540 and 1556 the abbey had the status of a cathedral. Since 1560, however, the building is no longer an
abbey nor a cathedral, having instead the status of a
Church of England "
Royal Peculiar"—a church responsible directly to the sovereign. The building itself is the original abbey church.