Westminster Abbey Bares Mosaic Floor for Coronation

Visitors to London's Westminster Abbey will be allowed to stand for the first time on the exact spot where King Charles the Third will be crowned, though they will need to make sure they don't have holes in their socks for the shoeless tour, meant to protect the abbey's medieval mosaic floor.

The section of the church's floor known as the cosmati pavement where the coronation chair has been placed for some 700 years, will be on display during Charles' crowning ceremony.
 
The pavement was hidden under carpet and thus away from public view from the 1870s, until a two-year program of conservation work was completed by the abbey in 2010.

The intricate mosaic of marble, stone, glass and metal, located in front of the abbey's high altar, was commissioned by Henry the Third in the twelve hundreds and made by italian craftsmen and english masons.

It is where coronations have taken place ever since, but it was covered by carpet at many previous coronations, including those of Elizabeth the second in 1953, and her father's George the Sixth in 1937.