The Abbey Today
The abbey is a Grade I listed building and Scheduled Ancient Monument. After a £5.5 million renovation programme there is a new visitor centre with interactive exhibits which illustrates the history of the abbey and the lives of the monks. Entry to the Abbey itself is via the visitor centre – free of charge, but with a donation box. Occasionally, guided tours are available (free of charge).
The Leeds Shakespeare Festival, performed by the British Shakespeare Company, took place annually in the cloisters from 1995 until 2009. The abbey grounds are a public park, and are used for occasional events such as the annual Kirkstall Festival and the Kirkstall Fantasia open-air concerts.
On the other side of the main road, the grade II* listed former abbey gatehouse now forms the Abbey House Museum.
The Abbey was also used on 19 March 2011 for the live BBC Three event Frankenstein's Wedding... Live in Leeds. A live music drama starring Andrew Gower and Lacey Turner as fiancees Victor Frankenstein and Elizabeth Lavenza.
On 10 and 11 September 2011 the Kaiser Chiefs played two concerts at Kirkstall Abbey to a maximum audience of 10,000 on each day.
Read more about this topic: Kirkstall Abbey
Famous quotes containing the words abbey and/or today:
“The Abbey always reminds me of that old toast, “Above lofty timbers, the walls around are bare, echoing to our laughter, as though the dead were there.””
—Garrett Fort (1900–1945)
“This is Wall Street, and today is important. Because tomorrow, July 4th, I intended to make my first million dollars—an exciting day in a man’s life. The enterprise was slightly illegal.”
—Abraham Polonsky (b. 1910)