Feature: Henry VIII era artifacts on show in England

LONDON, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Previously unseen artifacts from one of the most important monastic remains in Europe went on display for the first time Wednesday at Rievaulx Abbey in North Yorkshire.

They have been unseen for 500 years since England's King Henry VIII ordered the destruction of more than 800 churches around his kingdom.

The ruins of Rievaulx Abbey in North Yorkshire, a major tourist attraction, have become home to Britain's newest museum to display some of the artifacts rescued after what was known as the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

Rievaulx Abbey was ransacked and destroyed in 1538 by the royal command of King Henry, best known as the monarch who had six wives.

It was his massive fallout with the Roman Catholic pope that led to the churches, monasteries and abbeys being destroyed when Henry established his own rival religion, the Church of England with him as its head. That tradition has continued ever since with Queen Elizabeth II the current head of the Church of England.

Elaborate medieval stone carvings, chess pieces and gold coins tell the story of the rise and dramatic fall of what was, in 1132, the first abbey in the North of England to be established by the religious Cistercian order.

The artifacts include a beautiful carved stone doorway, reconstructed for the first time since it was buried in a heap of rubble almost 500 years ago, along with a massive ingot stamped with the king's emblem, weighing half a tonne, made out of the lead from the abbey roof that was melted down in a fire made from the timbers.

An imposing screen from the abbey church has been reassembled for the first time, and serves as the centerpiece to the new museum.

An investment of 2.6 million U.S. dollars by English Heritage has helped create the new museum as a permanent home for the collection.

Dr Michael Carter, senior properties historian for English Heritage, said: "Rievaulx Abbey is one of the most important abbeys in England -- and the setting one of the most beautiful. It was a place of huge spiritual significance for the country, two of its abbots were venerated as saints, and one utterly transformed by dramatic upheavals under Henry VIII."

In its post-dissolution life as a ruin, the abbey became a focal point for poets, painters, and scholars. In 1917, the abbey became one of the first major ruins to be officially conserved by the forerunner to English Heritage. Although much of the abbey is ruined, the eastern parts of the church stand to almost their full height as a breath-taking reminder of Rievaulx's monastic past.