St.

Pauls
Cathedral,London
St. Paul's Cathedral in London is the seat of the Bishop of
London and a major London landmark. It is located on Ludgate
Hill in the financial district known as the City of London.
The present St. Paul's Cathedral, which was built between 1675
and 1710, is the fourth cathedral to occupy the site, which was
sacred even before Christianity arrived. The cathedral's
immediate predecessor was destroyed in the Great Fire of
London in 1666.
The cathedral enjoyed by visitors today was designed by court
architect Sir Christopher Wren. Wren's original, grander plan
met with considerable resistance from the conservative Dean
and Chapter. The present building reflects a compromise, but
still reflects the grandeur of Wren's design.

History
The see of London dates from 604 AD, and its cathedral has
always been situated on Ludgate Hill and dedicated to St Paul.
Long before Christianity arrived in Britain, Ludgate Hill was
already a sacred site. It is believed that it was originally the site
of an ancient megalith and then later a temple dedicated to the
goddess Diana, in alignment with the Apollo Temple which once
stood at Westminster.
The first cathedral was built by the Saxons in wood. It burned
down in 675 and was rebuilt, again in wood, ten years later.
After this version was sacked by the Vikings in 962, the
"second" St Paul's built, this time mainly in stone.
The third St Paul's (known as Old St Paul's), was begun by the
Normans aftered the late Saxon cathedral suffered in a fire of

1087. Work took over two hundred years, and a great deal was
lost in a fire in 1136. Nonetheless the roof was once more built
of wood, which was ultimately to doom the building.
The church was "completed" in 1240 but a change of heart soon
led to the commencement of an enlargement programme,
which was not completed until 1314. The cathedral was
however consecrated in 1300. It was the third longest church in
Europe at 596 feet (181 metres) and boasted one of Europe's
tallest spires at some 489 feet (149 metres).
By the 16th century the building was decaying. In 1549 radical
preachers incited a mob to destroy many of the interior
decorations. In 1561 the spire was destroyed by lightning and it
was not replaced. England's first classical architect Sir Inigo
Jones added new west front in the 1630s. "Old St Paul's" was
ruined in the Great Fire of London of 1666. While it might have
been salvagable, albeit with almost complete reconstruction, a
decision was taken to build a new cathedral in a modern style
instead. Indeed this had been contemplated even before the
fire.
Work on the present cathedral commenced in 1675, and was
completed on October 20, 1708, the 76th birthday of its
architect, Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723). It is built of
Portland stone in a late Renaissance to Baroque style. Its
impressive dome inspired by St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, rising
108 metres (365 feet to the cross at its summit, i.e., one foot
for each day of the year), makes it a famous London landmark.
As the cathedral of the capital city, St. Paul's Cathedral in
London has been the spiritual focus of England ever since the
first service was held in 1697. Many important events have
taken place here over the years, including:
The funerals of Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington and Sir
Winston Churchill;
Jubilee celebrations for Queen Victoria and King George V;

Peace services marking the end of the First and Second World
Wars;
The launch of the Festival of Britain;
The Service of Remembrance and Commemoration for
September 11, 2001;
The 80th and 100th birthdays of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen
Mother;
The wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, to Lady Diana Spencer;
and
The Thanksgiving for the Golden Jubilee of Her Majesty the
Queen.
In 2000, the cathedral began a major restoration program,
scheduled for completion in 2008, to celebrate the 300th
anniversary of its opening. The restoration programme is
expected to cost 40 million, and involves not only repair and
cleaning of the building, but also improvement of visitor
facilities - such as accessibility for the disabled and additional
educational facilities.

What to See
Like most Christian churches, St. Paul's Cathedral is laid out in
the shape of a cross. The longer end of the main arm of the
cross is called the nave; the two ends of the shorter arm are
called the transepts.
At the "top" of the cross is the choir and the altar, where the
sacrament of communion takes place. Where the cross' two
arms intersect is a great dome, marked by a great circle on the
floor beneath it. The crypt is in a basement underneath the
cathedral.

West Front and Towers

The West Porch, approached from Ludgate Hill, is the main
entrance to St. Paul's. This is where Prince Charles and Lady

Diana emerged as husband and wife in 1981. A large stairway

leads up to six sets of double columns and the Great West Door.
The towers that have become distinguishing marks of the
London skyline were not part of architect Christopher Wren's
original plan. He added them in 1707, when he was 75 years
old. Both were designed to have clocks, but now only the tower
on the south (right) side has one.

Nave
As you enter the cathedral, you are in the nave - the main part
of the cathedral that stretches out in front of you under the
high, domed ceiling. The large, open space is intended to hold
large congregations for services. The floor of the cathedral is
tiled in a black and white checkerboard pattern. The narrower
hallways between the pillars and the walls on either side of the
nave are the north and south aisles of the sanctuary. The small
domes above the aisles imitate the larger ones of the nave. Up
ahead is the Great Circle under the dome and, beyond that, the
Choir (Quire in English spelling) and High Altar.

Monuments and Memorials

Within the cathedral are plaques, carvings, monuments and
statues dedicated to a wide range of people. The bulk are
related to the British military with several lists of servicemen
who died in action - the most recent being the Gulf War. There
are special monuments to Admiral Nelson and to the Duke of
Wellington (on horseback, unveiled in 1912) in the south
transept and north aisle, respectively.
Also remembered are poets, painters, clergy and residents of
the local parish. On the left (north) is a monument to Lord
Leighton and on the right (south) is a memorial to an 18thcentury naval hero. On the south aisle, in the central transept,
is a monument to Thomas Middleton, the first Anglican bishop
in India. There are also lists of the Bishops and cathedral Deans
for the last thousand years.

Chapels
The nave has three small chapels in the two adjoining aisles. To
the left (north aisle) is St. Dunstan's Chapel, which was one of
the earliest parts of the cathedral to come into use. It was
originally known as the Morning Chapel, as it was designed to
be the place where the clergy and a small congregation would
say the morning office (set of prayers). In 1905 it was dedicated
to St. Dunstan, who was Bishop of London and Archbishop of
Canterbury over 1,000 years ago. It originally had no altar, as it
was not intended for the celebration of communion, but was
richly decorated in purple and red silk curtains and cushions.
All Souls Chapel is further down on the left side (north aisle) All
Souls contains a beautiful pieta of Mary and Jesus and is
dedicated primarily to soldiers of World War I.
The Chapel of the Order of St. Michael and St. George is across
from St. Dunstan's on the right side (south aisle). This was
originally the consistory court - the place where the bishop sat
in judgment over the clergy, or priests. It was used as a studio
for the construction of Wellington's monument between 1858
and 1878.

Crypt
Entrances to the downstairs crypt are in both transepts, on
either side of the dome. St. Paul's substantial cathedral crypt
contains over 200 memorials as well as another chapel and the
treasury.
Members of the royal family are buried in Westminster Abbey,
but many other notable figures are buried in St. Paul's Cathedral
crypt, such as Florence Nightengale and Lord Nelson.
Sir Christopher Wren, the architect of the cathedral, was
fittingly the first person to be buried here, in 1723. The
inscription on his burial slab states, "Reader, if you seek his
memorial, look all around you." Look for Wren's tomb all the
way to the east end of the crypt, under the altar.

The treasury has very few treasures. Many were lost over the
years and in 1810 a major robbery took almost all of the
remaining precious artifacts.

Dome and Galleries

The main space of the cathedral is centred under the dome,
which rises 108.4 meters from the cathedral floor. At 360 feet
(110 meters), it is the second largest dome in the world after St.
Peter's Basilica in Rome. The inside of the dome is decorated
with frescos by Sir James Thornhill, the most important painter
of Wren's time.
The dome contains three circular galleries - the internal
Whispering Gallery, the external Stone Gallery and the external
Golden Gallery. The Whispering Gallery derives its name from
its unusual acoustics, which cause whispers to echo around the
dome.
The entrance to the galleries is at the right side (south aisle),
just before the dome. Climb the 259 steps to try out the
Whispering Gallery and enjoy the view from the Stone Gallery.
The Golden Gallery is at the highest point of the dome, under
the lantern.

Choir
The choir extends to the east end of the dome. It is home to the
cathedral's great organ, which was ommissioned in 1694. The
current instrument is the third biggest in Britain with 7,189
pipes and 138 stops; it is enclosed in an impressive case built
by Grinling Gibbons. The wrought ironwork screens in the choir
aisles were created by Jean Tijou, a Huguenot refugee.
The bishop's throne (cathedra), from which a cathedral derives
its name, is on the south side of the choir. The choir ceiling is
covered with glittering mosaics created by William Richmond in
the 1890s.

High Altar

Originally, the cathedral had a simple table for an altar. Today's

very ornate high altar dates from 1958 and is made of marble
and gilded oak. It replaces a large Victorian marble altar and
screen, which were damaged by the bombing during World War
II, and is based on a sketch by Christopher Wren.
Apse and American Memorial Chapel
The Apse is the semi-circular east end of the Cathedral, which in
St. Paul's is behind the High Altar. It was destroyed in the
second World War by a bomb. After it was rebuilt, this space
was consecrated as the American Memorial Chapel in
November 1958.