St Paul's Cathedral
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This article is about the cathedral church of the diocese of London. For other cathedrals consecrated to Saint Paul, see Cathedral of Saint Paul.
St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral on Ludgate Hill, in the City of London, England and the seat of the Bishop of London. The present building dates from the 17th century, and is generally reckoned to be London's fifth St Paul's Cathedral, although the number is higher if every major mediæval reconstruction is counted as a new cathedral. The cathedral is one of London's most visited sites.
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[edit] The previous cathedrals
[edit] Pre-Norman
- There had been a late-Roman See in London, but the first Saxon cathedral was built out of wood, probably by Mellitus or another of the Augustinian missionaries, on the see's re-foundation in AD 604 on Ludgate Hill in the western part of the old Roman city and the eastern part of Lundenwic. It was these missionaries' habit, as in mainland Europe, to build cathedrals within old Roman city-walls. This building is traditionally said to have been on the site of an ancient megalith, or stone circle, and a temple dedicated to the goddess Diana, in alignment with the Apollo Temple that once stood at Westminster, although Christopher Wren found no evidence of this (Kruger, 1943). This would have only been a modest chapel at first and may well have been destroyed after Mellitus was briefly expelled from the city by Saeberht's pagan successors. It burned down in 675.
- The cathedral was rebuilt, in stone, in 685. In it was buried King or Saint Sebbi of Essex. It was sacked by the Vikings in 961, as cited in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
- The third cathedral was begun in 962, again in stone. In it was buried Ethelred the Unready. It burnt, with the whole city, in a fire in 1087 (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle).
[edit] 'Old St Paul's'
The fourth St Paul's (known as Old St Paul's, a nineteenth century coinage, or the pre-Great Fire St Paul's), was begun by the Normans after the 1087 fire. Work took over 200 years, and a great deal was lost in a fire in 1136. The roof was once more built of wood, which was ultimately to doom the building. The church was consecrated in 1240, but a change of heart led to the commencement of an enlargement programme in 1256. This 'New Work' was completed in 1314 - the cathedral had been consecrated in 1300. It was the third-longest church in Europe. Excavations in 1878 by Francis Penrose showed it was 585 feet long and 100 feet wide (290 feet across the transepts and crossing), and had one of Europe's tallest spires, at some 489 feet (149 metres).
By the 16th century the building was decaying. Under Henry VIII and Edward VI, the Dissolution of the Monasteries and Chantries Acts led to the destruction of interior ornamentation and the cloisters, charnels, crypts, chapels, shrines, chantries and other buildings in the churchyard. Many of these former religious sites in St Paul's Churchyard, having been seized by the crown, were sold as shops and rental properties, especially to printers and booksellers, who were often evangelical Protestants. Buildings that were razed often supplied ready-dressed building material for construction projects, such as the Lord Protector's city palace, Somerset House.
Crowds were drawn to the northeast corner of the Churchyard, St Paul's Cross, where open air preaching took place. It was there in the Cross Yard in 1549 that radical Protestant preachers incited a mob to destroy many of the cathedral's interior decorations. In 1561 the spire was destroyed by lightning and it was not replaced; this event was taken by both Protestants and Catholics as a sign of God's displeasure at the other faction's actions.
England's first classical architect, Sir Inigo Jones, added the cathedral's west front in the 1630s, but there was much defacement and mistreatment of the building by Parliamentarian forces during the English Civil War, when the old documents and charters were dispersed and destroyed (Kelly 2004). "Old St Paul's" was gutted in the Great Fire of London of 1666. While it might have been salvageable, 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.
[edit] Wren's St Paul's
[edit] Design and construction
 Wren's Greek Cross design |
 Wren's warrant design |
 Wren's cathedral as built |
The task of designing a replacement structure was assigned to Christopher Wren in 1668, along with over 50 other City churches. His first design, to build a replacement on the foundations of the old cathedral, was rejected in 1669. The second design, in the shape of a Greek cross (circa 1670-1672) was rejected as too radical, as was a revised design that resulted in the 1:24 scale "Great Model", on display in the crypt of the cathedral. The 'warrant' design was accepted in 1675 and building work began in June. It included a smaller dome with a spire on top, but King Charles II had given Wren permission to make "ornamental" changes to the approved design and Wren took the liberty to radically rework the design to the current form, including the large central dome and the towers at the west end. The cathedral was completed on October 20, 1708, Wren's 76th birthday, although the first service had been held on December 2, 1697).
- Sir Christopher Wren
- Said, "I am going to dine with some men.
- If anyone calls,
- Say I am designing St Paul's."
[edit] Description
The cathedral is built of Portland stone in a late Renaissance style that is England's sober Baroque. Its impressive dome was inspired by St Peter's Basilica in Rome. It rises 365 feet (108 metres) to the cross at its summit, making it a famous London landmark. Wren achieved a pleasing appearance by building three domes: the tall outer dome is non-structural but impressive to view, the lower inner dome provides an artistically balanced interior, and between the two is a structural cone that supports the apex structure and the outer dome. Wren was said to have been hauled up to the rafters in a basket during the building of its later stages to inspect progress.
The nave has three small chapels in the two adjoining aisles – All Souls and St Dunstan's in the north aisle and the Chapel of the Order of St Michael and St George in the south aisle. The main space of the cathedral is centred under the Dome; it rises 108.4 metres from the cathedral floor and holds three circular galleries – the internal Whispering Gallery, the external Stone Gallery, and the external Golden Gallery.
The Whispering Gallery runs around the interior of the Dome and is 99 feet(30.2 m) above the cathedral floor. It is reached by 259 steps from ground-level. It gets its name because a whisper against its wall at any point is audible to a listener with their ear held to the wall at any other point around the gallery. This works only for whispered speech - normal voiced speech is not focused in this way.
The base of the inner dome is 173 feet (53.4 m) above the floor. The top of the inner dome is about 65 m above the floor, making this the height of the enclosed space.
The Quire extends to the east of the dome and holds the stalls for the clergy and the choir and the organ. To the north and south of the dome are the transepts of the North Choir and the South Choir.
The north-west tower contains 13 bells and the south-west contains four, including Great Paul, cast in 1881, and Great Tom (the hour bell), recast twice, after being moved from the old Palace of Westminster.
[edit] Post-Wren history
This cathedral has survived despite being targeted during the Blitz - it was struck by bombs on October 10, 1940 and April 17, 1941. On September 12, 1940 a time-delayed bomb that had struck the cathedral was successfully defused and removed by a Bomb Disposal detachment of Royal Engineers under the command of Temporary Lieutenant Robert Davies. Had this bomb detonated it would have totally destroyed the Cathedral, as it left a 100 foot crater when it was later remotely detonated in a secure location.[citation needed] As a result of this action Davies was awarded the George Cross (Gazetted September 30, 1940). His George Cross and other medals are on display at the Imperial War Museum, London.
[edit] Memorials
The cathedral has a very substantial crypt holding over 200 memorials and as the Order of the British Empire Chapel and the Treasury. The cathedral has very few treasures: many have been lost, and in 1810 a major robbery took almost all of the remaining precious artifacts. Christopher Wren was the first person to be interred, in 1723: on the wall above his tomb in the crypt is written, "Lector, si monumentum requiris, circumspice" (Reader, if you seek a monument, look around you).
St Paul's is home to other plaques, carvings, statues, memorials and tombs of famous British figures including:
- General Sir Isaac Brock
- Sir Edwin Lutyens
- John Donne, whose funeral effigy, portraying him in a shroud, but not his tomb, survives from Old St Paul's.
- Lord Kitchener
- The Duke of Wellington
- Lord Nelson
- Henry Moore
- Sir Winston Churchill
- T.E. Lawrence, whose bust faces Nelson's sarcophagus
- Sir Alexander Fleming
- Sir Arthur Sullivan
- Florence Nightingale
- J.M.W. Turner
- Sir Joshua Reynolds.
Most of the memorials commemorate the British military, including several lists of servicemen who died in action, the most recent being the Gulf War. There are special monuments to Lord Nelson in the south transept and to the Duke of Wellington in the north aisle; both are buried here. Also remembered are poets, painters, clergy and residents of the local parish. There are lists of the Bishops and cathedral Deans for the last thousand years.
The Apse of the cathedral is home to the American Memorial Chapel. It honours American servicemen and women who died in World War II, and was dedicated in 1958. It was paid for entirely by donations from British people, and was designed, as a modern exercise in the Wren style, by Godfrey Allen and Stephen Dykes Bower.[1] The roll of honour contains the names of more than 28,000 Americans who gave their lives while on their way to, or stationed in, the United Kingdom during the Second World War. It is in front of the chapel's altar. The three chapel windows date from 1960. They feature themes of service and sacrifice, while the insignia around the edges represent the American states and the US armed forces. The limewood panelling incorporates a rocket - a tribute to America's achievements in space.[2]
The cathedral has been the site for many famous funerals, including those of Nelson, Wellington and Churchill.
[edit] Modern-day
The Royal Family hold most of their important marriages, christenings and funerals at Westminster Abbey, but St Paul's was used for the marriage of Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer.
In 2001, Britain's memorial service to honour the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks was held at the cathedral, attended by the Royal Family and then-U.S. ambassador William Farish. Prince Philip spoke, as did Farish, and Farish said in 2004 in The Times just before he resigned as ambassador that this service showed the strong relationship between the US and Britain. On November 1, 2005, it held a memorial service for the July 7 bombings.
The cathedral is open to the public, with a charge for non-worshipping visitors. In 2000, the cathedral began a major restoration programme, scheduled for completion in 2008, to celebrate the 300th anniversary of its opening. A ceremony to celebrate the anniversary was directed by Patrick Garland. The restoration programme is expected to cost £40 million, and involves repair and cleaning of the building, and improvement of visitor facilities, such as accessibility for the disabled, and provision of additional educational facilities.
[edit] Cultural references
Because of its prominent and recognizable form on the skyline, a view that is protected from many vantage points, St Paul's is often used in movies as part of an establishing shot to place the viewers in London.
It also features in:
- The Canterbury Tales, where it is a favourite location of the Sergeant of Law
- London Calling by Edward Bloor, where it is the setting of one of the most touching scenes in the book
- Mary Poppins, where it is the setting of the song Feed the Birds
- Lawrence of Arabia, as the venue of Lawrence's funeral.
- Steamboy, seen in scenes with the cathedral.
- 101 Dalmatians
- Peter Pan
- The War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells
- Team America: World Police
- The Bed-Sitting Room (1970 film) depicts the post - nuclear wreckage of the dome lying in the middle of a lake.
- The cathedral was prominent in all Thames Television idents from 1968 until 1992, and prominent in its logo until 1997
- The opening titles of Mr. Bean began with a shot of Mr. Bean falling from the sky with St. Paul's in the background.
- The 1966 Doctor Who story The Invasion, where Cybermen emerge and walk towards the Thames outside the cathedral.
- The 1966 film Georgy Girl: as Joss and Georgy sail down the Thames, a captain points out the house where Christopher Wren lived whilst the dome was being constructed. The dome appears in the background, covered in scaffolding.
- The 1971 Hammer Horror film Hands of the Ripper
- The Cathedral became the lair of Giant Black Rats in James Herberts 1993 graphic novel, The City.
- The 1994 film The Madness of King George
- Mortal Engines, where it is the house of the super weapon MEDUSA when it is mounted upon the great Traction City of London.
- From Hell - in the graphic novel version by Alan Moore, the cathedral is seen in the opening panel with an ominous look on a cloudy day.
- In the 2005 Doctor Who story The Empty Child, the cathedral during the Blitz can be seen in numerous background shots.
- In the 2006 Doctor Who story Rise of the Cybermen, the cathedral is seen briefly in a background shot as the Doctor and Rose walk through a parallel universe London.
Fire Watch by Connie Willis, a Hugo and Nebula winning short story, is set mostly in and around the cathedral during the final months of 1940, when it was targeted in the Blitz.
The idiom "rob Peter to pay Paul" has a folk etymology of using the funds of Westminster Abbey for the cathedral.
There is a scale model of the cathedral at LEGOLAND Windsor.
[edit] Organ and Organists
[edit] Organ
The organ was commissioned in 1694: the current instrument is the third-biggest in Britain with 7,189 pipes and 138 stops, enclosed in an impressive case by Grinling Gibbons.
Details of the organ from the National Pipe Organ Register
[edit] Organists
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[edit] Images
[edit] Present day
 The cathedral dome from Paternoster Square |
 St Paul's, north-east side. |
 St Paul's, west side. |
 Visitors view London from the cathedral’s Golden Gallery |
 A view of central London and the River Thames from the cathedral |
 St Paul's Cathedral from Ludgate Hill during cleaning in 2004 |
 From the London Millennium Bridge |
 The West side of the Cathedral, with Clock Tower |
 West side at dusk |
 The Cathedral from the London Millennium Bridge during cleaning in 2005 |
[edit] Historical
 St Paul's seen across the Thames in the early 19th century |
 The interior in 1860 |
 St Paul's in 1896 |
[edit] References
- ^ Paul's Cathedral, St. (November 28, 2006). Explore St. Paul's. explore-stpauls.net. Retrieved on November 28, 2006.
- ^ Paul's Cathedral, St. (November 28, 2006). St. Paul's Cathedral Floor. stpauls.co.uk. Retrieved on November 28, 2006.
[edit] See also
- List of churches and cathedrals of London
- Paternoster Square
- Tall buildings in London
- College of Minor Canons
- The Light of the World
[edit] External links
- St Paul's Cathedral official website
- Explore St Paul's Cathedral — online virtual tour including 360° panoramas, narrated slideshows, maps, and full text for the hearing-impaired
- Wren's various designs
- The lowest BASE Jump in the world from the Whispering Gallery inside St Paul's Cathedral 1992
- St. Paul's Cathedral Photo Gallery — 125 photos
- Composition of St Paul's Cathedral
- St Paul's Cathedral tourist guide
- Old St Paul's Cathedral by William Benham - eText from Project Gutenberg
- S.E. Kelly, editor, 2004. Charters of St Paul's, London in series Anglo-Saxon Charters (Oxford University Press) [1]
- Google Local Arial view of St. Paul's Cathedral
- Quicktime VR of St Paul's and the Millennium Bridge - British Tours Ltd
- BBC News account of the bombing
- Bells of St. Paul's
- A history of the choristers of St Paul's Cathedral
- Flickr images tagged St Paul's Cathedral
- Mystery Worshipper Report at the Ship of Fools website
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- Satellite image from WikiMapia or Google Maps
- Street map from Multimap or GlobalGuide
- Aerial image from TerraServer
Categories: Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | 1708 architecture | Anglican cathedrals in England | Baroque architecture | City of London churches | Tall buildings and structures in London | Grade I listed churches in London | Christopher Wren London churches | Nicholas Hawksmoor buildings | Domes
