London’s crowning glory, St Paul’s stands as a monument to one man’s genius.
Sir Christopher Wren produced three designs for his new cathedral. The first two were rejected and the cathedral as built only bears a small resemblance to the third.
Built mainly of Portland stone, St Paul’s contains many idiosyncrasies – two of the most familiar features, for example, are misleading. The outer walls are built in two distinct storeys, but the upper storey is false, it simply acts as a screen to hide the flying buttresses that support the high vaults. On the other hand, the iconic dome -which crowns the outside of the cathedral – is not the one inside; the interior dome is positioned much lower for aesthetic effect.
Site history
London’s first cathedral was built in 604, but this building or its successor was burned down in 1087. A great Norman cathedral known as ‘Old St Paul’s‘ was then built on Ludgate Hill. The choir was reconstructed in the 13th Century to provide more space, the total length reaching 178m.
Wren’s vision
Sir Christopher Wren, as Surveyor to the King’s Works, was responsible for building the new St Paul’s. He had previously designed such well-known buildings as the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford and the Chapel at Pembroke College, Cambridge. Although now best known as an architect, he was also an astronomer, a scientist and a talented mathematician. While the architectural style and detailing is Renaissance ‘English Baroque’, the basic form and structure of Wren’s St Paul’s mirrors the medieval cathedral, consisting of two western towers, a long nave, a central crossing above which rises a tower (the dome) and choir. St Paul’s the first English cathedral completed in the original architect’s lifetime, which gives it an architectural unity rarely found in earlier gothic churches.
The crypt
Facts about St. Paul’s Cathedral
Duke of Wellington – In 1852,1 million people watched the Duke of Wellington’s funeral procession to St Paul’s before he was interred in the crypt in a luxulyanite sarcophagus.
Attempted bombing – In 1913, suffragettes – in an attempt to bring attention to their cause – planted a bomb under the Bishop’s throne in the choir. Luckily, it was defused before it exploded.
Sir Winston Churchill – Sir Winston Churchill’s state funeral at St Paul’s Cathedral on 30 January 1965 was the first to be broadcast to the nation on both radio and television.
The Royal wedding – Charles, Prince of Wales, married Lady Diana Spencer on 29 July 1981 after which St Paul’s became one of the most visited churches in England.