The seat of the Anglican Church, Canterbury Cathedral is one of the most beautiful in all of England, and also among the country's holiest pilgrimage sites, thanks to a seminal incident in British history that took place here in 1170: Archbishop Thomas Becket was cruelly murdered in the cathedral by four knights allegedly following the orders of King Henry II. Becket was canonized 3 years later, while a repentant Henry established the cathedral as the center of English Christianity.

The surrounding city of Canterbury, located on the main route from London to the English Channel port of Dover, was already an important town in ancient Roman times. It gained further favor when, in A.D. 597, St. Augustine was sent by Pope Gregory the Great to convert the heathen Anglo-Saxons to Christianity; St. Augustine established Canterbury as his base, and became the first Archbishop of Canterbury. Canterbury's importance as a religious center was then immortalized by the great 14th-century English poet Geoffrey Chaucer in his epic poem The Canterbury Tales, told by a group of pilgrims traveling from London to St. Thomas Becket's shrine.

Much of Canterbury was destroyed during a 1942 World War II air raid, but the cathedral remained largely unscathed, including its outstanding 12th- and 13th-century stained-glass windows, which locals temporarily removed for safekeeping. The most important are considered to be the Great West Window, the Bible Windows, and the suitably named Miracle Windows, while the spot where Becket died is now marked by a solitary candle.

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Location: Canterbury, Kent, England

Website: www.canterbury-cathedral.org