St Paul's Cathedral, London

Aerial View of St. Pauls Cathedral,
Tower Bridge and the River Thames, London, England
Photographic Print
Buy at AllPosters.com

Location: Just off Cannon Street

Transport Links: St Paul's Underground station on the Central Line
Blackfriars and Cannon Street mainline stations

Opening hours: Monday to Saturday from 8.30am, last admission for sightseeing 4pm. Before you make a special journey, do check because the Cathedral is sometimes closed during these times for special services.

There is an admission charge to visit St Paul's Cathedral.

Ball and Lantern of Golden Gallery on St. Paul's Cathedral, London Photographic Print
Buy at AllPosters.com

* The Whispering Gallery is probably the most famous of St Paul's attractions. Climb up 259 steps into the lower part of the dome and if you whisper on one side of the gallery, someone can hear it on the other side.
* Are you up to climbing 378 steps? If you are, visit the Stone Gallery. This is on the exterior of the dome and above the Whispering Gallery.
* Go even higher to the Golden Gallery, also on the exterior of the dome. You will have to climb 530 steps to see panoramic views across London from this, the smallest of the Cathedral's galleries.
* The Great Organ is the third largest in the UK and was installed in the Cathedral in 1695. The outer case is by Grinling Gibbons.
* In the North Quire Aisle you can see a sculpture of Mother and Child by Henry Moore.
* In the South Transept you can see memorials to, amongst others, Nelson and Scott of the Antartic.
* The Crypt is the largest in Europe and contains memorials to some of the country's greatest men including the tombs of the Duke of Wellington, Admiral Nelson and Sir Christopher Wren whose epitaph says "If you seek his monument look around you".

St Paul's has been the scene of many great State ceremonies including:

* a thanksgiving for the end of the Napoleonic Wars
* the Duke of Wellington's funeral
* the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer
* a service of commemoration and thanks for the life of the Queen Mother
* a thanksgiving service, attended by the Queen, as part of her Golden Jubilee celebrations.

St Paul's Cathedral, destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666.

The first was built in 604 by the first Christian English King, Ethelbert, ruler of Kent. It was destoyed by fire and was rebuilt around 680. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, the second cathedral lasted for less than 300 years, being destroyed by Vikings and again rebuilt in 962. This was also destroyed by fire, in 1087.

The front of the old St Paul's Cathedral

By this time England had been invaded by the Normans under William the Conqueror and so the new building was in the Norman style and took over 200 years to complete. It was the largest building in the country and was built of imported Caen stone. It was even bigger than the present day St Paul's and its spire was the tallest ever built. When the spire was struck by lightning in the mid 16th century, it was not rebuilt.

During the English Civil War and the period of the Cromwell's rule, the Commonwealth, an enormous amount of damage was done to the fabric of the building. Windows, statues, carvings and the nave roof were destroyed. During the war, the Parliamentary army used the nave to stable their horses and later the porch of the Cathedral was rented to small businesses.

In 1660 King Charles II was restored to the throne. By this time St Paul's was in a calamitous state so Christopher Wren was consulted about repairs to restore its former grandeur. Before the recommended repairs could be undertaken, the cathedral was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666.

This is Samuel Pepys' description after St Paul's and surrounding buildings were destroyed by the fire.

"Up by five o'clock; and, blessed be God! find all well, and by water to Paul's Wharfe. Walked thence, and saw, all the towne burned, and a miserable sight of Paul's church; with all the roofs fallen, and the body of the quire fallen into St. Fayth's; Paul's school also, Ludgate, and Fleet-street, my father's house, and the church, and a good part of the Temple the like."

An engraving of a cross section of the dome of St. Paul's

The ruins were demolished and Sir Christopher Wren was commissioned to design the new replacement cathedral. It wasn't plain sailing, though, his first two designs were rejected. His third design was accepted and work on the cathedral began in June 1675, nearly nine years after the fire. It wasn't complete until 1708.

The design of St Paul's was very different and opinion was divided on it. Some people thought it was too much like a Roman Catholic church which isn't surprising as the dome was modeled on St Peter's in Rome. Little did the doubters know that the dome of St Paul's would be an enduring symbol nearly 230 years later during World War II.

It is in fact three structure. The outer dome is just for ornamentation and serves no structural purpose. Next there is a cone that supports the structure, then there is the inner dome visible from inside the cathedral. See the picture to get a better idea of how the dome is built.

The only surviving artefact from the old Cathedral was a statue of John Donne which can now be seen in the South Aisle. Building was completed 1710.

St. Paul's Cathedral During London Blitz, 1940 Art Print
Buy at AllPosters.com

During the Second World War's Blitz, St Paul's Cathedral became a great symbol of how Londoners could 'take it'. After each night's bombing, there was St Paul's, still intact. That is not to say it survived unscathed. One bomb hit the north transept and another destroyed the High Altar which was later replaced by one commemorating the dead of the First and Second World Wars. The chapel behind the High Altar was also damaged replaced by the American Chapel dedicated to the Americans who died in Britain during the Second World War.

In October 1940 St Paul's had a luck escape. A 2,000 kilograms (4,410 lb) bomb with a timer fuse hit the cathedral and the Royal Engineers Bomb Disposal squad came to defuse it. Dealing with the bomb was not straightforward. There was a nearby fractured gas main and the gas was burning. The bomb was buried in soil and it took three days just to dig it out to work on it. They succeeded and it was removed to Wapping Marshes and blown up leaving a 100 foot wide crater behind. This bomb would have destroyed the cathedral but for the bravery of temporary Lieutenant Robert Davies and Sapper George Cameron Wylie who both received the George Cross for defusing the bomb.

In December 1940, the dome of the Cathedral was hit by an incendiary bomb which luckily fell from the dome into the Stone Gallery below where the fire was extinguished.