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St. Paul's Cathedral
back to sights listingThe symbolic heart of London, St. Paul's will take your breath away. In fact, its dome -- the world's third largest -- will already be familiar, since you see it peeping through on the skyline over the rooftops of the City, just as it does in Canaletto's 18th-century views of the Thames. The cathedral is the masterpiece of Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723), completed in 1710 after 35 years of building and much argument with the Royal Commission. The St. Paul's Cathedral managed to survive the World War II bomb attack.
At the beginning Sir Christopher Wren was commissioned to restore Old St. Paul's, the Norman cathedral that had replaced, in its turn, three earlier versions, but the Great Fire left so little of it standing that a new cathedral was deemed necessary. . The imaginative Wren had to fight to get his plans accepted. Wren actually wanted to build the Cathedral just North of where it stands and he wanted the dome to be of copper, double gilded with gold. Unfortunately he was overruled on both counts. At the time not everyone liked Wren's design.
When you enter and see the dome from the inside, you may find that it seems smaller than you expected. And it is really smaller and 60 ft lower, than the lead-covered outer dome. Between the inner and outer domes there is a brick cone, which supports the familiar 850-ton lantern, surmounted by its golden ball and cross.
Now try to climb the 259 spiral steps to the Whispering Gallery. This is the part of the cathedral where the acoustic phenomenon can be heard: whisper something to the wall on one side, and a second later it transmits clearly to the other side, 107 ft away. The only problem is identifying "your" whisper from the cacophony of everyone else's. Look down onto the nave from here, and up to the frescoes of St. Paul by Sir James Thornhill (who nearly fell off while painting them), before ascending farther to the Stone Gallery, which encircles the outside of the dome and affords a spectacular panorama of London. Up again (it will be already 627 steps altogether), and you reach the Golden Gallery, from which you can view the lantern through a circular opening called the oculus.
Back downstairs there are the inevitable monuments and memorials to see, though fewer, than one might expect because Wren didn't want his masterpiece cluttered up. The vivacious choir-stall carvings nearby are the work of Grinling Gibbons, as is the organ, which Wren designed and Handel played. The painters Sir Joshua Reynolds and J. M. W. Turner are commemorated, as is George Washington. The American connection continues behind the high altar in the American Memorial Chapel, dedicated in 1958 to the 28,000 GIs stationed here who lost their lives in World War II.
A visit to the crypt brings you to Wren's tomb, the black marble sarcophagus containing Admiral Nelson and an equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington on top of his grandiose tomb.
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St. Paul's Churchyard
Ludgate Hill
London EC4, United Kingdom
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