Mosaic pavements laid at Westminster Abbey

1255

Henry III commissioned Italian Cosmati craftsmen to lay an elaborate geometric mosaic pavement before the high altar of his new Westminster Abbey. The porphyry and serpentine design, preserved beneath a carpet for centuries, still baffles archaeologists with its numerological intent. The precious stones were imported from Rome itself, and the pavement's Latin inscription predicted the end of the world in a cryptic calculation.