St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's dome weighs around 65,000 tonnes, and a brick cone hidden between its two shells holds up the stone lantern and cross on top.
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Quick Facts
- Location
- Ludgate Hill, City of London
- Built
- 1675 to 1710 (the fifth cathedral on the site)
- Architect
- Sir Christopher Wren
- Height
- About 111 metres to the top of the cross
- Dome
- About 30 metres across internally and 34 metres externally, among the largest cathedral domes in the world
- Tallest in London
- Tallest building in London from 1710 until 1963, when Millbank Tower overtook it
- Famous ceremonies
- Funerals of Nelson, Wellington and Churchill; the 1981 wedding of Charles and Diana
- Whispering Gallery
- Reached by 257 steps
The dome with a secret inside it
Look up from the street and you see one grand dome. Step inside and you see another, a shallower one painted with scenes from the life of St Paul. They are not the same structure. Wren built three. The inner dome is low enough to look elegant from the floor. The outer one is tall and lead-covered, built to dominate the skyline. Between them sits a hidden brick cone that carries the weight of the stone lantern and cross on top. The whole dome weighs around 65,000 tonnes and is carried by eight massive piers. It was a clever solution to a problem of taste: Wren wanted a soaring profile outside and a harmonious interior, and refused to compromise on either.
Born from a fire
The medieval cathedral, Old St Paul's, had a spire that was once among the tallest in Europe until lightning destroyed it in 1561. Then came the Great Fire of 1666, which left the building a ruin. Wren, a professor of astronomy turned architect, had already been asked to look at repairs before the fire. Afterwards, he presented ideas for something entirely new. His first grand design, the Great Model, was rejected by the clergy as too unlike a traditional cathedral. A compromise plan, the Warrant Design, was approved in 1675, though Wren was famously given licence to make 'ornamental' changes. He made plenty. The first stone was laid in 1675 and the building was declared complete in 1710, with Wren still alive to see it. That is remarkably quick for a cathedral of this scale.
The Whispering Gallery and other tricks
Climb 257 steps and you reach the Whispering Gallery, which runs around the inside of the dome. Whisper against the wall and, thanks to the curve, your voice can be heard on the opposite side, about 30 metres away. Higher still are the Stone Gallery and the Golden Gallery, the latter an outdoor balcony with sweeping views across the City and the Thames. Down below, a plain floor slab in the crypt marks Wren's tomb. The Latin inscription nearby translates roughly as: reader, if you seek his monument, look around you.
The night the bombs fell
During the Blitz, St Paul's became a symbol of London's defiance. Volunteer fire-watchers known as the St Paul's Watch patrolled the roof, putting out incendiary bombs before they could take hold. The cathedral was not unscathed. A bomb destroyed part of the high altar in 1940, and an unexploded device that fell in the same year was famously defused and removed with great difficulty. The famous photograph of the dome rising through smoke on the night of 29 December 1940 became one of the defining images of the war. The dome survived, and so did the cathedral's place in the nation's imagination.
A stage for the nation
St Paul's is where Britain says its biggest goodbyes. Admiral Lord Nelson was buried in the crypt in 1806, and the Duke of Wellington followed in 1852 with a funeral of enormous scale. Winston Churchill's state funeral in 1965 saw dockers on the Thames dip their cranes as his coffin passed. It has also hosted celebrations, including thanksgiving services for royal jubilees, and the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981. People also gather outside. The steps have been a meeting point for protest and celebration alike.
What to look out for
Stand on the south side of the Thames, or on Millennium Bridge, and you get one of London's great views, with the dome framed by the footbridge. Planning rules known as protected views still guard sightlines to the dome from certain vantage points. Inside, look for the mosaics in the quire, the carved choir stalls by Grinling Gibbons, and Henry Moore's sculpture 'Mother and Child: Hood' in the north quire aisle. In the crypt, find the memorials to Nelson, Wellington, and artists such as Turner and Reynolds. And do not forget to look up: that painted inner dome is worth the neck ache.
Notable people
- Sir Christopher Wren
- Grinling Gibbons
- Sir James Thornhill
- Admiral Lord Nelson
- Duke of Wellington
- Winston Churchill
- Robert Hooke
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