 Christopher Wren's St Paul's, St Paul’s In 1668, Christopher Wren was commissioned to produce a new design for St. Paul's after the old cathedral burned down in the Great Fire of London in 1666. A cathedral had stood on the site since 604. The Norman cathedral which was now in ruins had taken more than two hundred years to build. An astronomer, a mathematician, a founder of the Royal Society, and a self-taught architect, Wren was determined to build a wonderful replacement, but in 1669, his first design was rejected, and in 1673 his second plan and Great Model were abandoned. He would rebuild more than fifty churches all over London, but he could not seem to get St Paul's right. In 1675 his third design was finally approved, and built. The 'dome' is actually three domes. "Between the domed ceiling seen from the interior," writes Edward Rutherfurd in London, "and the metalled exterior roof which rises fifty feet higher, there was, not exactly a dome, but a massive brick cone, almost like a kiln." That cone supports the lantern on top and holds everything else in place as well. Around the base of the dome is a great double chain and all the way up the inner cone are bands of stone and iron chains "which hold everything tight, like the metal hoops round a barrel." Eight great pillars also support the dome. Wren, by then in his seventies, used to be pulled up in a basket every week so he could inspect building progress. Perhaps it is not so surprising that St. Paul's survived the Blitz. The measurements of the dome are so precise and the air so still that the Royal Society, of which Wren was a founding member, planned to test Newton's theory of gravity here. The Whispering Gallery runs round the interior of the dome. It acquired its name when it was realised that a whisper against its walls was audible on the opposite side of the dome. The first service in St Paul's was held on December 2, 1697 in the Quire, the part of the building where construction began. This is where the extraordinary wood carvings of Grinling Gibbons can be seen – "a sea of carving. . .Spreading leaves and sinuous vines, flowers, trumpets, cherubic heads, festoons of fruit. . ." (London) "There is no instance of a man before Gibbons who gave wood the loose and airy lightness of flowers" (Horace Walpole) - or the softness of a sleeping child. Several tons of oak were carved.
St. Paul's survived Nazi German bombing in World War II. Photo Credit: U.S. National Archives, 306-NT-3173V At the east end of the Cathedral, behind the High Altar, part of St Paul's was destroyed during the Blitz. It was funded and rebuilt in the 1950s to commemorate the members of the United States forces based in Britain who gave their lives defending liberty during World War II. It is called the American Memorial Chapel.
There has been a choir of boys and men at St Paul’s for over nine centuries. Evensong is sung every day. On Sundays there are three choral services - Matins, Eucharist and Evensong. Image: St Paul's Cathedral
Looking up into St Paul's dome. Christopher Wren was buried in the crypt of his cathedral. His son wrote him one of the most famous epitaphs of all time - "Lector, Si Monumentum Requiris Circumspice" - When you contribute to this website,
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John Evelyn, who wrote a classic on trees, saw Grinling Gibbons through a window, carving by candlelight. He introduced him to Christoper Wren. Image: Historic Royal Palaces
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