Brompton Oratory

Brompton Oratory, formally the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, is after Westminster Cathedral the second largest Catholic church in London and stands right next to the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington. It was built in 1880-1884 by the 28-year-old Herbert Gribble in Italian neo-Baroque, at a time when English architecture was dominated by the Gothic Revival - a deliberate provocation. Inside stand monumental 17th-century apostle figures from Milan Cathedral, a Lady Chapel imported from Brescia, and one of England's most renowned choirs, the Schola Cantorum. Parish priests have included John Henry Newman and Frederick Faber, both Anglican converts. Sundays at 11:00 a Latin High Mass - one of very few left in London.