The History of St. Paul's.

Sir Christopher Wren did a lot of building throughout  London but his greatest achievement is Saint Paul's Cathedral. It was built after the Great Fire of London in 1666 when the old cathedral was destroyed. It only took him 35 years to build, which is very quick in Cathedral  terms!

 

It's the seat of the Bishop of London and the only batoque style Cathedral in the city. Diana and Charles married here (the only royal royal wedding ever held here). Over 300 people are buried here including Wren himself. The dome is the second largest in the world which is an architectural accomplishment. 

 

It was finished in 1710 and is pretty modern for churches. The surrounding area is more recent and modern - built since the end of World War 2 when much of the area was destroyed in bombings.  This is one one of the few buildings that survived the Blitzkrieg London bombings by Germany. The first month of the Blitz was focused here and on the docks. Civilian volunteers climbed up ladders to the roof of the cathedral and would search the sky looking and listening for incoming planes with ordinary flashlights. When spotted, they wound the sirens by hand to alert the citizens to get into the shelters. After the all clear, the one thing every Londoner searched for was St Paul's Cathedral which was the tallest building in the cityscape. And despite all the damage and devastation Londoners searched for that dome because they believed if they could still see the dome that not only was St. Paul's still standing, but London was still standing. It became the ultimate symbol of hope for Londoners. 

It suffered a direct hit in December 1940 and wiped out the high altar. As soon as the war was over one of the first things that was some was to raise money to rebuild the east end and build a new altar. This end was dedicated to every citizen of the U.S. and paid for with British money and today houses the American Memorial chapel. The only stained glass windows are at this end and feature the seals of every state In the US.  Here's also a memorial to the 27,000 American service people who were based in London during the war in recognition our alliance with Britain. 

 

We were not able to go in unfortunately because being Sunday it is reserved for worship but we had a great time looking around. A few brave souls peeked in to see the main hall and we all got to hear the clanging of the bells. An amazing stop full of history!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A little bit of ping pong while waiting for the meet up!