St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an
Anglican
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
cathedral
A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...
in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, England, the seat of the
Bishop of London
The bishop of London is the Ordinary (church officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury. By custom the Bishop is also Dean of the Chapel Royal since 1723.
The diocese covers of 17 boroughs o ...
. The cathedral serves as the
mother church
Mother church or matrice is a term depicting the Christian Church as a mother in her functions of nourishing and protecting the believer. It may also refer to the primary church of a Christian denomination or diocese, i.e. a cathedral church, or ...
of the
Diocese of London
The Diocese of London forms part of the Church of England's Province of Canterbury in England.
It lies directly north of the Thames, covering and all or part of 17 London boroughs. This corresponds almost exactly to the historic county of ...
in the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
. It is on
Ludgate Hill
Ludgate Hill is a street and surrounding area, on a small hill in the City of London, England. The street passes through the former site of Ludgate, a city gate that was demolished – along with a gaol attached to it – in 1760.
Th ...
at the highest point of the
City of London
The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...
. Its dedication in honour of
Paul the Apostle
Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Apostles in the New Testament, Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the Ministry of Jesus, teachings of Jesus in the Christianity in the 1st century, first ...
dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. The high-domed present structure, which was completed in 1710, is a
Grade I listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
that was designed in the
English Baroque
English Baroque is a term used to refer to modes of English architecture that paralleled Baroque architecture in continental Europe between the Great Fire of London (1666) and roughly 1720, when the flamboyant and dramatic qualities of Baroque ...
style by Sir
Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren FRS (; – ) was an English architect, astronomer, mathematician and physicist who was one of the most highly acclaimed architects in the history of England. Known for his work in the English Baroque style, he was ac ...
. The cathedral's reconstruction was part of a major rebuilding programme initiated in the aftermath of the
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Wednesday 5 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old London Wall, Roman city wall, while also extendi ...
. The earlier Gothic cathedral (
Old St Paul's Cathedral
Old St Paul's Cathedral was the cathedral of the City of London that, until the Great Fire of London, Great Fire of 1666, stood on the site of the present St Paul's Cathedral. Built from 1087 to 1314 and dedicated to Paul of Tarsus, Saint Paul ...
), largely destroyed in the Great Fire, was a central focus for medieval and early modern London, including
Paul's walk and
St Paul's Churchyard, being the site of
St Paul's Cross.
The cathedral is one of the most famous and recognisable sights of London. Its dome, surrounded by the spires of Wren's City churches, has dominated the skyline for more than 300 years. At high, it was the tallest building in London from 1710 to 1963. The dome is still one of the highest in the world. St Paul's is the
second-largest church building in area in the United Kingdom, after
Liverpool Cathedral
Liverpool Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Liverpool, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Liverpool and is the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Liverpool, diocese of Liverpool. The church may be formally re ...
.
Services held at St Paul's have included the funerals of
Admiral Lord Nelson, the
Duke of Wellington,
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...
and
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
; jubilee celebrations for
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
; an inauguration service for the
Metropolitan Hospital Sunday Fund; peace services marking the end of the
First and
Second World Wars; the
wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer; the launch of the
Festival of Britain; and the thanksgiving services for the
Silver
Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...
,
Golden,
Diamond
Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...
, and
Platinum
Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...
Jubilees and the 80th and 90th birthdays of
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
. St Paul's Cathedral is the central subject of much promotional material, as well as of images of the dome surrounded by the smoke and fire of
the Blitz
The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War.
Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...
.
The cathedral is a working church with hourly prayer and daily services. The tourist entry fee at the door is £25 for adults (January 2024) but no charges are made to worshippers attending services, or for private prayer.
The nearest
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England.
The Undergro ...
station is
St Paul's, which is away from St Paul's Cathedral.
History
Before the cathedral
The location of
Londinium
Londinium, also known as Roman London, was the capital of Roman Britain during most of the period of Roman rule. Most twenty-first century historians think that it was originally a settlement established shortly after the Roman conquest of Brit ...
's original cathedral is unknown, but legend and medieval tradition claim it was
St Peter upon Cornhill
St Peter upon Cornhill is an Anglican church on the corner of Cornhill and Gracechurch Street in the City of London of medieval, or possibly Roman origin. It was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and rebuilt to the designs of Sir C ...
. St Paul is an unusual attribution for a cathedral and suggests there was another one in the Roman period. Legends of
St Lucius link St Peter upon Cornhill as the centre of the Roman Londinium Christian community. It stands upon the highest point in the area of old Londinium, and it was given pre-eminence in medieval procession on account of the legends. There is, however, no other reliable evidence, and the location of the site on the Forum makes it difficult for it to fit the legendary stories. In 1995, a large fifth-century building on
Tower Hill
Tower Hill is the area surrounding the Tower of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is infamous for the public execution of high status prisoners from the late 14th to the mid 18th century. The execution site on the higher gro ...
was excavated and has been claimed as a Roman basilica, possibly a cathedral, although this is speculative.
The
Elizabethan
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...
antiquarian
William Camden
William Camden (2 May 1551 – 9 November 1623) was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and herald, best known as author of ''Britannia'', the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland that relates la ...
argued that a
temple
A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...
to the goddess
Diana had stood during Roman times on the site occupied by the medieval St Paul's Cathedral. Wren reported that he had found no trace of any such temple during the works to build the new cathedral after the Great Fire, and Camden's hypothesis is no longer accepted by modern archaeologists.
Pre-Norman cathedral
There is evidence for Christianity in London during the Roman period, but no firm evidence for the location of churches or a cathedral. Bishop
Restitutus is said to have represented London at the
Council of Arles in 314 AD. A list of the 16
"archbishops" of London was recorded by
Jocelyn of Furness in the 12th century, claiming London's
Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
community was founded in the second century under the legendary
King Lucius and his missionary saints
Fagan,
Deruvian, Elvanus and Medwin. None of that is considered credible by modern historians but, although the surviving text is problematic, either Bishop
Restitutus or Adelphius at the
314 Council of Arles seems to have come from
Londinium
Londinium, also known as Roman London, was the capital of Roman Britain during most of the period of Roman rule. Most twenty-first century historians think that it was originally a settlement established shortly after the Roman conquest of Brit ...
.
Bede
Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most f ...
records that in AD604
Augustine of Canterbury
Augustine of Canterbury (early 6th century in England, 6th century – most likely 26 May 604) was a Christian monk who became the first archbishop of Canterbury in the year 597. He is considered the "Apostle to the English".
Augustine ...
consecrated
Mellitus as the first bishop to the
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...
kingdom of the
East Saxons and their king,
Sæberht. Sæberht's uncle and overlord,
Æthelberht, king of
Kent
Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
, built a church dedicated to St Paul in London, as the seat of the new bishop. It is assumed, although not proved, that this first Anglo-Saxon cathedral stood on the same site as the later medieval and the present cathedrals.
On the death of Sæberht in about 616, his pagan sons expelled Mellitus from London, and the East Saxons reverted to paganism. The fate of the first cathedral building is unknown. Christianity was restored among the East Saxons in the late seventh century and it is presumed that either the Anglo-Saxon cathedral was restored or a new building erected as the seat of bishops such as
Cedd,
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...
and
Erkenwald, the last of whom was buried in the cathedral in 693.
Earconwald was consecrated bishop of London in 675, and is said to have bestowed great cost on the fabric, and in later times he almost occupied the place of traditionary, founder: the veneration paid to him is second only to that which was rendered to St. Paul.
Erkenwald would become a subject of the important High Medieval poem ''
St Erkenwald''.
King
Æthelred the Unready
Æthelred II (,Different spellings of this king's name most commonly found in modern texts are "Ethelred" and "Æthelred" (or "Aethelred"), the latter being closer to the original Old English form . Compare the modern dialect word . ; ; 966 � ...
was buried in the cathedral on his death in 1016; the tomb is now lost. The cathedral was burnt, with much of the city, in a
fire in 1087, as recorded in the ''
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons.
The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the ninth century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of ...
''.
Old St Paul's
The fourth St Paul's, generally referred to as ''Old St Paul's'', was begun by the
Normans
The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; ; ) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and locals of West Francia. The Norse settlements in West Franc ...
after the 1087 fire. A further fire in 1135 disrupted the work, and the new cathedral was not consecrated until 1240. During the period of construction, the style of architecture had changed from
Romanesque to
Gothic, and this was reflected in the pointed arches and larger windows of the upper parts and East End of the building. The Gothic ribbed vault was constructed, like that of
York Minster, of wood rather than stone, which affected the ultimate fate of the building.
An enlargement programme commenced in 1256. This "New Work" was consecrated in 1300 but was not complete until 1314. During the later Medieval period, St Paul's was exceeded in length only by the
Abbey Church of Cluny and in the height of its spire only by
Lincoln Cathedral
Lincoln Cathedral, also called Lincoln Minster, and formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln, is a Church of England cathedral in Lincoln, England, Lincoln, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Lincoln and is the Mo ...
and
St. Mary's Church, Stralsund. Excavations by
Francis Penrose in 1878 showed that it was long and wide ( across the
transept
A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...
s and
crossing). The spire was about in height. By the 16th century, the building was deteriorating.
The
English Reformation
The English Reformation began in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away first from the authority of the pope and bishops Oath_of_Supremacy, over the King and then from some doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church ...
under
Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...
and
Edward VI
Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. The only surviving son of Henry VIII by his thi ...
(accelerated by the
Chantries Acts) led to the destruction of elements of the interior ornamentation and the chapels,
shrine
A shrine ( "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred space">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...: ''escri ...
s, and
chantries. The Reformation would come to include the removal of the cathedral's collection of relics, which by the sixteenth century was understood to include:
* the body of
St Erkenwald
* both arms of
St Mellitus
* a knife thought to belong to
Jesus
Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
* hair of
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cr ...
* blood of
St Paul
* milk of the
Virgin Mary
Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...
* the head of
St John
* the skull of
Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then as Archbishop of Canterbury fr ...
* the head and jaw of
King Ethelbert
* part of the wood of the cross,
* a stone of the
Holy Sepulchre,
* a stone from the spot of the
Ascension, and
* some bones of the
eleven thousand virgins of Cologne.
In October 1538, an image of St Erkenwald, probably from the shrine, was delivered to the master of the king's jewels. Other images may have survived, at least for a time. More systematic iconoclasm happened in the reign of Edward VI: the ''Grey Friar's Chronicle'' reports that the rood and other images were destroyed in November 1547; during this activity, a workman died when items fell on him.
In late 1549, at the height of the iconoclasm of the
English Reformation
The English Reformation began in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away first from the authority of the pope and bishops Oath_of_Supremacy, over the King and then from some doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church ...
,
Sir Rowland Hill altered the route of his Lord Mayor's Day procession and said a ''
de profundis'' at the tomb of Erkenwald. Later in Hill's mayoralty of (1550) the high altar of St Paul's was removed overnight to be destroyed, an occurrence that provoked a fight in which a man was killed. Hill had ordered, unusually for the time, that St Barnabas's Day would not be kept as a public holiday ahead of these events.
Three years later, by October 1553, "Alle the alteres and chappelles in alle Powlles churche" were taken down. In August 1553, the dean and chapter were cited to appear before Queen Mary's commissioners.
Some of the buildings in the St Paul's churchyard were sold as shops and rental properties, especially to printers and booksellers. In 1561, the spire was destroyed by a lightning strike, an event that
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
writers claimed was a sign of God's judgment on England's Protestant rulers. Bishop James Pilkington preached a sermon in response, claiming that the lightning strike was a judgement for the irreverent use of the cathedral building. Immediate steps were taken to repair the damage, with the citizens of London and the clergy offering money to support the rebuilding. However, the cost of repairing the building properly was too great for a country and city recovering from a trade depression. Instead, the roof was repaired, and a timber "roo" was put on the steeple.
In the 1630s, a west front was added to the building by England's first
classical architect,
Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones (15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was an English architect who was the first significant Architecture of England, architect in England in the early modern era and the first to employ Vitruvius, Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmet ...
. There was much defacing and mistreatment of the building by
Parliamentarian forces during the
Civil War
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
, and the old documents and charters were dispersed and destroyed. During the
Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...
, those churchyard buildings that were razed supplied ready-dressed building material for construction projects, such as the Lord Protector's city palace,
Somerset House
Somerset House is a large neoclassical architecture, neoclassical building complex situated on the south side of the Strand, London, Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadran ...
. Crowds were drawn to the northeast corner of the churchyard,
St Paul's Cross, where open-air preaching took place.
In the Great Fire of London of 1666, Old St Paul's was gutted. While it might have been possible to reconstruct it, a decision was taken to build a new cathedral in a modern style. This course of action had been proposed even before the fire.
St Paul's Theatre
The St Paul's Theatre (1575-1606
) was converted by Sebastian Westcott,
the cathedral's organist, from the Almoner's Hall of the cathedral. The genesis and layout was similar to
Blackfriars Theatre
Blackfriars Theatre was the name given to two separate theatres located in the former Blackfriars Dominican priory in the City of London during the Renaissance. The first theatre began as a venue for the Children of the Chapel Royal, child ...
, but smaller. Music for organ was specified in a number of plays.
The works were staged at the private St Paul's Theatre by the choristers of the St Paul's Cathedral.
A boy company performed plays, without any involvement of adult actors.
The boy actors at St Paul's were primarily choristers, playing to paying audiences.
The boy companies were viewed as respectable, but played less frequently than the adult companies, and had little crowd trouble.
The boy choristers of St Paul's Cathedral used the Almoner's Hall from 1575 until 1584.
Present St Paul's
The task of designing a replacement structure was officially assigned to Sir Christopher Wren on 30 July 1669. He had previously been put in charge of the rebuilding of churches to replace those lost in the Great Fire. More than
50 city churches are attributable to Wren. Concurrent with designing St Paul's, Wren was engaged in the production of his five ''Tracts'' on Architecture.
Wren had begun advising on the repair of the Old St Paul's' in 1661, five years before the fire in 1666. The proposed work included renovations to the interior and exterior to complement the
classical facade designed by Inigo Jones in 1630. Wren planned to replace the dilapidated tower with a dome, using the existing structure as a scaffold. He produced a drawing of the proposed dome, which shows his idea that it should span the nave and aisles at the crossing. After the Fire, it was at first thought possible to retain a substantial part of the old cathedral, but ultimately the entire structure was demolished in the early 1670s.
In July 1668, Dean
William Sancroft wrote to Wren that he was charged by the
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...
, in agreement with the bishops of London and Oxford, to design a new cathedral that was "Handsome and noble to all the ends of it and to the reputation of the City and the nation." The design process took several years, but a design was finally settled and attached to a royal warrant, with the proviso that Wren was permitted to make any further changes that he deemed necessary. The result was the present St Paul's Cathedral, still the second largest church in Britain, with a dome proclaimed as the finest in the world. The building was financed by a tax on coal and was completed within its architect's lifetime, with many of the major contractors engaged for the duration.
The "topping out" of the cathedral (when the final stone was placed on the lantern) took place on 26 October 1708, performed by Wren's son Christopher Jr and the son of one of the masons. The cathedral was declared officially complete by Parliament on 25 December 1711 (Christmas Day). In fact, construction continued for several years after that, with the statues on the roof added in the 1720s. In 1716 the total costs amounted to £1,095,556 (£ in ).
Consecration
On 2 December 1697, 31 years and 3 months after the Great Fire destroyed Old St Paul's, the new cathedral was consecrated for use. The Right Reverend
Henry Compton, Bishop of London, preached the sermon. It was based on the text of
Psalm 122, "I was glad when they said unto me: Let us go into the house of the Lord." The first regular service was held on the following Sunday.
Opinions of Wren's cathedral differed, with some loving it: "Without, within, below, above, the eye / Is filled with unrestrained delight", while others hated it: "There was an air of Popery about the gilded capitals, the heavy arches ... They were unfamiliar, un-English ...".
Since 1900
Suffragette terror attacks
St Paul's was the target of two
suffragette
A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...
bombing attacks in 1913 and 1914 respectively. This was as part of the
suffragette bombing and arson campaign
Suffragettes in Great Britain and Ireland orchestrated a bombing and arson campaign between the years 1912 and 1914. The campaign was instigated by the Women's Social and Political Union, Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), and was a part ...
from 1912 and 1914 in which suffragettes from the
Women's Social and Political Union
The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom founded in 1903. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and p ...
, as part of their campaign for
women's suffrage
Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...
, carried out a series of politically motivated bombings and arson nationwide.
Churches were explicitly targeted by the suffragettes as they believed the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
was complicit in reinforcing opposition to women's suffrage. Between 1913 and 1914, 32 churches across Britain were attacked.
The first attack on St Paul's occurred on 8 May 1913, at the start of a sermon.
A bomb was heard ticking and discovered as people were entering the cathedral.
It was made out of
potassium nitrate
Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with a sharp, salty, bitter taste and the chemical formula . It is a potassium salt of nitric acid. This salt consists of potassium cations and nitrate anions , and is therefore an alkali metal nit ...
.
Had it exploded, the bomb likely would have destroyed the historic
bishop's throne and other parts of the cathedral.
The remains of the device, which was made partly out of a mustard tin, are now on display at the
City of London Police Museum.
A second bombing of the cathedral by the suffragettes was attempted on 13 June 1914, but the bomb was again discovered before it could explode.
This attempted bombing occurred two days after a bomb had exploded at
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...
, which damaged the
Coronation Chair and caused a mass panic for the exits.
Several other churches were bombed at this time, such as
St Martin-in-the-Fields
St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. Dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, there has been a church on the site since at least the medieval pe ...
church in
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster in Central London. It was established in the early-19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. Its name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, the Royal Navy, ...
and the
Metropolitan Tabernacle.
Great Restoration
Early in the 20th century, concerns were raised about the effects of settlement on the dome and the
piers supporting it, confirmed by surveyors' reports in 1913 and 1914. An appeal for £70,000 allowed two of the piers to be reinforced, despite delays caused by the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. A second appeal for £100,000 in 1922 allowed the work to continue, but on Christmas Eve 1924, a Dangerous Structures Notice was served on the cathedral by the City Corporation. Starting in March 1925, concrete and more than 250 steel bars were inserted into the piers, while a great steel chain was embedded around the outside of the dome to stabilise it. The high altar was moved to the nave, and the organ was rebuilt in the north aisle so that worship could continue while work went on behind a screen. When the work was finally completed, a grand rededication service was held on 25 June 1930; it was attended by King George V and Queen Mary and featured a procession of the 220 men who had worked on the restoration. The service was broadcast on
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...
, the first time that worship had been broadcast from the cathedral, as it had previously been opposed by the Dean and Chapter.
War damage
The cathedral survived
the Blitz
The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War.
Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...
although it was struck by bombs on 10 October 1940 and 17 April 1941. The first strike destroyed the high altar, while the second strike on the north transept left a hole in the floor above the crypt.
The latter bomb is believed to have detonated in the upper interior above the north transept, and the force was sufficient to shift the entire dome laterally by a small amount.
On 12 September 1940, a time-delayed bomb that had struck the cathedral was successfully defused and removed by a
bomb disposal
Bomb disposal is an explosives engineering profession using the process by which hazardous explosive devices are disabled or otherwise rendered safe. ''Bomb disposal'' is an all-encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated fun ...
detachment of
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...
under the command of Temporary Lieutenant
Robert Davies. Had this bomb detonated, it would have totally destroyed the cathedral; it left a crater when later remotely detonated in a secure location.
As a result of this action, Davies and
Sapper
A sapper, also called a combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, preparing field defenses ...
George Cameron Wylie were each awarded the
George Cross
The George Cross (GC) is the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational Courage, gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. In the British honours system, the George Cross, since its introduction in 1940, ...
. Davies' George Cross and other medals are on display at the
Imperial War Museum, London.
One of the best known images of London during the war was a photograph of St Paul's taken on 29 December 1940 during the "
Second Great Fire of London" by photographer Herbert Mason, from the roof of a building in Tudor Street showing the cathedral shrouded in smoke.
Lisa Jardine of
Queen Mary, University of London
Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and formerly Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of London.
Today, ...
, has written:
Post-war
A considerable amount of rebuilding and restoration of war damage was undertaken in the 1950s and 1960s; including the high altar and American Memorial Chapel completed in 1958, the damaged North Transept in 1962, the cleaning of the west front in 1961-1963, the repair of damage to the dome from anti-aircraft fire completed in 1967 and the building of a new choir school building in 1967.
On 29 July 1981, the
wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer was held at the cathedral. The couple selected St Paul's over
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...
, the traditional site of royal weddings, because the cathedral offered more seating.
Extensive copper, lead, and slate renovation work was carried out on the Dome in 1996 by John B. Chambers. A 15-year restoration project—one of the largest ever undertaken in the UK—was completed on 15 June 2011.
Occupy London

In October 2011, an
Occupy London encampment was established in front of the cathedral. The cathedral's finances were affected by the ensuing closure. It was claimed that the cathedral was losing revenue of £20,000 per day. Canon Chancellor
Giles Fraser resigned, asserting his view that "evicting the anti-capitalist activists would constitute violence in the name of the Church". The
Dean of St Paul's, the Right Revd Graeme Knowles, then resigned too. The encampment was evicted at the end of February 2012, by court order and without violence, as a result of legal action by the
City of London Corporation
The City of London Corporation, officially and legally the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the local authority of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United Kingdom's f ...
.
2019 terrorist plot
On 10 October 2019,
Safiyya Amira Shaikh, a
Muslim convert, was arrested following an
MI5
MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), officially the Security Service, is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Gov ...
and
Metropolitan Police investigation. In September 2019, she had taken photographs of the cathedral's interior. While trying to
radicalise others using the
Telegram messaging software, she
planned to attack the cathedral and other targets such as a hotel and a train station using
explosive
An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An ex ...
s. Shaikh
plea
In law, a plea is a defendant's response to a criminal charge. A defendant may plead guilty or not guilty. Depending on jurisdiction, additional pleas may be available, including '' nolo contendere'' (no contest), no case to answer (in the ...
ded guilty and was
sentenced to
life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...
.
National events
The size and location of St Paul's has made it an ideal setting for Christian services marking great national events. The opportunity for long processions culminating in the dramatic approach up Ludgate Hill, the open area and steps at the west front, the great nave, and the space under the dome are all well-suited for ceremonial occasions. St Paul's can seat many more people than any other church in London, and in past centuries, the erection of temporary wooden galleries inside allowed for congregations exceeding 10,000. In 1935, the dean,
Walter Matthews Walter Matthews may refer to:
* Walter Matthews (politician) (1900–1986), member of the Canadian House of Commons
* Walter Matthews (priest) (1881–1973), British Anglican priest, Dean of St Paul's Cathedral
* Walt Matthews (1934–2014), basebal ...
, wrote:
National events attended by the royal family, government ministers, and officers of state include
national services of thanksgiving,
state funerals and a
royal wedding. Some of the most notable examples are:
* Thanksgiving service for the
Acts of Union 1707
The Acts of Union refer to two acts of Parliament, one by the Parliament of Scotland in March 1707, followed shortly thereafter by an equivalent act of the Parliament of England. They put into effect the international Treaty of Union agree ...
, 1 May 1707
*
State funeral of Horatio Nelson, 9 January 1806
*
State funeral of the Duke of Wellington, 18 November 1852
*
Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria, 22 June 1897
* Thanksgiving service for the
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...
, 6 July 1919
*
Silver Jubilee of George V, 6 May 1935
* Thanksgiving services for
VE Day
Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945; it marked the official surrender of all German military operations ...
and
VJ Day, 13 May and 19 August 1945
*
State funeral of Winston Churchill, 30 January 1965
*
Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II, 7 June 1977
*
Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, 29 July 1981
*
Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II, 4 June 2002
*
Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II, 5 June 2012
*
Ceremonial funeral of Margaret Thatcher, 17 April 2013
* Thanksgiving service for the Queen's 90th birthday, 10 June 2016
*
Platinum Jubilee National Service of Thanksgiving, 3 June 2022
Ministry and functions

St Paul's Cathedral is a busy church with four or five services every day, including
Matins, Eucharist and Evening Prayer or Choral Evensong. In addition, the cathedral has many special services associated with the City of London, its corporation, guilds and institutions. The cathedral, as the largest church in London, also has a role in many state functions such as the service celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. The cathedral is generally open daily to tourists and has a regular programme of organ recitals and other performances.
The
Bishop of London
The bishop of London is the Ordinary (church officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury. By custom the Bishop is also Dean of the Chapel Royal since 1723.
The diocese covers of 17 boroughs o ...
is Sarah Mullally, whose appointment was announced in December 2017 and whose enthronement took place in May 2018.
Dean and chapter
The cathedral chapter is currently composed of seven individuals: the dean, three residentiary canons (one of whom is, exceptionally, lay), one "additional member of chapter and canon non-residentiary" (ordained) and two lay canons. Each has a different responsibility in the running of the cathedral. As of October 2022:
* Dean: Andrew Tremlett (since 25 September 2022)
* Precentor: vacant
* Treasurer: vacant
* Chancellor: Paula Gooder (since 9 May 2019;
lay reader since 23 February 2019)
* Steward: Neil Evans (since June 2022)
* Additional member of chapter and canon non-residentiary: Sheila Watson (priest), Sheila Watson (since January 2017).
* Lay canon: Pamela (Pim) Jane Baxter (since March 2014). Deputy Director at the National Portrait Gallery, London, National Portrait Gallery, with experience in opera, theatre and the visual arts.
* Lay canon: Sheila Nicoll (since October 2018). She is Head of Public Policy at Schroder Investment Management.
* Lay canon: Clement Hutton-Mills (since March 2021). He is also a managing director at Goldman Sachs.
* Lay canon: Gillian Bowen (since June 2022). She is chief executive officer of YMCA London City and North and is a magistrate.
Minor canons and priest vicar
Director of music
The director of music is Andrew Carwood.
Carwood was appointed to succeed Malcolm Archer, taking up the post in September 2007. He is the first non-organist to hold the post since the 12th century.
Organs
An organ was commissioned from Bernard Smith (organ builder), Bernard Smith in 1694.
In 1862, the organ from the Panopticon of Science and Art (the Panopticon Organ) was installed in a gallery over the south transept door.
The Grand Organ was completed in 1872, and the Panopticon Organ moved to the Victoria Rooms, Bristol, Victoria Rooms in Clifton in 1873.
The Grand Organ is the fifth-largest in Great Britain, in terms of number of Organ pipe, pipes (7,256), with 5 manuals, 136 ranks of pipes and 137 organ stop, stops, principally enclosed in a case designed in Wren's workshop and decorated by Grinling Gibbons. Details of the organ can be found online at the National Pipe Organ Register.
Choir
St Paul's Cathedral has a full professional choir which sings regularly at services. The earliest records of the choir date from 1127. The choir historically consisted of up to 30 boy choristers, eight probationers, and vicars choral of 12 professional male singers.
In February 2017, the cathedral announced the appointment of the first female vicar choral, Carris Jones (a mezzo-soprano), to take up the role in September 2017.
During 2022, St Paul's Cathedral announced that it would admit girls to its choir, breaking a tradition stretching back 900 years. On 30 June 2024, when two girls formally joined the cathedral choir as full choristers, having undertaken specialist training in preparation, the Sunday Choral Evensong service officially marked this historic event.
During school terms, the choir sings Evensong six times per week, the service on Mondays being sung by a visiting choir (or occasionally said) and that on Thursdays being sung by the vicars choral alone. On Sundays, the choir also sings at Mattins and the 11:30 am Eucharist.
Many notable musicians have been organists, choir masters and choristers at St Paul's Cathedral, including the composers John Redford, Thomas Morley, John Blow, Jeremiah Clarke, Maurice Greene (composer), Maurice Greene and John Stainer, while well-known performers have included Alfred Deller, John Shirley-Quirk and Anthony Way as well as the conductors Charles Groves and Paul Hillier and the poet Walter de la Mare.
Wren's cathedral
Development of the design
In designing St Paul's, Christopher Wren had to meet many challenges. He had to create a fitting cathedral to replace Old St Paul's as a place of worship and as a landmark within the City of London. He had to satisfy the requirements of the church and the tastes of a royal patron, as well as respecting the essentially medieval tradition of English church building, which developed to accommodate the liturgy. Wren was familiar with contemporary Renaissance and Baroque trends in Italian architecture and had visited France, where he studied the work of François Mansart.
Wren's design developed through five general stages. The first survives only as a single drawing and part of a model. The scheme (usually called the ''First Model Design'') appears to have consisted of a circular domed vestibule (possibly based on the Pantheon in Rome) and a rectangular church of basilica form. The plan may have been influenced by the Temple Church. It was rejected because it was not thought "stately enough". Wren's second design was a Greek cross, which was thought by the clerics not to fulfil the requirements of Anglican liturgy.
Wren's third design is embodied in the "Great Model" of 1673. The model, made of oak and plaster, cost more than £500 (approximately £32,000 today) and is more than tall and long. This design retained the form of the Greek-Cross design but extended it with a nave. His critics, members of a committee commissioned to rebuild the church, and clergy decried the design as too dissimilar to other English churches to suggest any continuity within the Church of England. Another problem was that the entire design would have to be completed all at once because of the eight central piers that supported the dome, instead of being completed in stages and opened for use before construction finished, as was customary. The Great Model was Wren's favourite design; he thought it a reflection of Renaissance beauty. After the Great Model, Wren resolved not to make further models and not to expose his drawings publicly, which he found did nothing but "lose time, and subject [his] business many times, to incompetent judges". The Great Model survives and is housed within the cathedral itself.
Wren's fourth design is known as the ''Warrant design'' because it received a royal warrant for the rebuilding. In this design, Wren sought to reconcile Gothic, the predominant style of English churches, to a "better manner of architecture". It has the longitudinal Latin Cross plan of a medieval cathedral. It is of storeys and has classical porticos at the west and transept ends, influenced by Inigo Jones's addition to Old St Paul's. It is roofed at the crossing by a wide shallow dome supporting a drum with a second cupola, from which rises a spire of seven diminishing stages. Vaughan Hart has suggested that some influence in the design of the spire may have been drawn from the oriental pagoda. Not used at St Paul's, the concept was applied in the spire of St Bride's, Fleet Street. This plan was rotated slightly on its site so that it aligned, not with true east, but with sunrise on Easter of the year construction began. This small change in configuration was informed by Wren's knowledge of astronomy.
Final design
The final design as built differs substantially from the official Warrant design. Wren received permission from the king to make "ornamental changes" to the submitted design, and Wren took great advantage of this. Many of these changes were made over the thirty years as the church was constructed, and the most significant was to the dome: "He raised another structure over the first cupola, a cone of brick, to support a stone lantern of an elegant figure ... And he covered and hid out of sight the brick cone with another cupola of timber and lead; and between this and the cone are easy stairs that ascend to the lantern" (Christopher Wren, son of Sir Christopher Wren). The final design was strongly rooted in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The saucer domes over the nave were inspired by François Mansart's Church of the Val-de-Grâce, which Wren had seen during a trip to Paris in 1665.
The date of the laying of the first stone of the cathedral is disputed. One contemporary account says it was 21 June 1675, another 25 June and a third on 28 June. There is, however, general agreement that it was laid in June 1675. Edward Strong later claimed it was laid by his elder brother, Thomas Strong, one of the two master stonemasons appointed by Wren at the beginning of the work.
Structural engineering
Wren's challenge was to construct a large cathedral on the relatively weak clay soil of London. St Paul's is unusual among cathedrals in that there is a crypt, the largest in Europe, under the entire building rather than just under the eastern end. The crypt serves a structural purpose. Although it is extensive, half the space of the crypt is taken up by massive piers, which spread the weight of the much slimmer piers of the church above. While the towers and domes of most cathedrals are supported on four piers, Wren designed the dome of St Paul's to be supported on eight, achieving a broader distribution of weight at the level of the foundations. The foundations settled as the building progressed, and Wren made structural changes in response.
One of the design problems that confronted Wren was to create a landmark dome, tall enough to visually replace the lost tower of St Paul's, while at the same time appearing visually satisfying when viewed from inside the building. Wren planned a double-shelled dome, as at St Peter's Basilica. His solution to the visual problem was to separate the heights of the inner and outer dome to a much greater extent than had been done by Michelangelo at St Peter's, drafting both as catenary curves, rather than as hemispheres. Between the inner and outer domes, Wren inserted a brick cone that supports both the timbers of the outer, lead-covered dome and the weight of the ornate stone lantern that rises above it. Both the cone and the inner dome are 18 inches thick and are supported by wrought iron chains at intervals in the brick cone and around the cornice of the peristyle of the inner dome to prevent spreading and cracking.
The Warrant Design showed external buttresses on the ground floor level. These were not a classical feature and were one of the first elements Wren changed. Instead, he made the walls of the cathedral particularly thick to avoid the need for external buttresses altogether. The clerestory and vault are reinforced with flying buttresses, which were added at a relatively late stage in the design to give extra strength. These are concealed behind the screen wall of the upper story, which was added to keep the building's classical style intact, to add sufficient visual mass to balance the appearance of the dome and which, by its weight, counters the thrust of the buttresses on the lower walls.
Designers, builders and craftsmen
During the extensive period of design and rationalisation, Wren employed Nicholas Hawksmoor from 1684 as his principal assistant. Between 1696 and 1711 William Dickinson (architect), William Dickinson was measuring clerk. Joshua Marshall (until his early death in 1678) and Thomas and his brother Edward Strong were master masons, the latter two working on the construction for its entirety. John Langland was the master carpenter for more than thirty years. Grinling Gibbons was the chief sculptor, working in both stone on the building itself, including the pediment of the north portal, and wood on the internal fittings. The sculptor Caius Gabriel Cibber created the pediment of the south transept while Francis Bird was responsible for the relief in the west pediment depicting the Conversion of St Paul, as well as the seven large statues on the west front. The floor was paved by William Dickinson in black and white marble in 1709–10 Jean Tijou was responsible for the decorative wrought ironwork of gates and balustrades. The ball and cross on the dome were provided by an armorer, Andrew Niblett. Following the #War damage, war damage mentioned above, many craftsmen were employed to restore the wood carvings and stone work that had been destroyed by the bomb impact. One of particular note is Master Carver, Gino Masero who was commissioned to carve the replacement figure of Christ, an eight-foot sculpture in lime which currently stands on the High Altar.
Description
St Paul's Cathedral is built in a restrained Baroque architecture, Baroque style which represents Wren's rationalisation of the traditions of English medieval cathedrals with the inspiration of Palladio, the classical style of Inigo Jones, the baroque style of 17th century Rome, and the buildings by Mansart and others that he had seen in France. It is particularly in its plan that St Paul's reveals medieval influences. Like the great medieval cathedrals of York Minster, York and Winchester Cathedral, Winchester, St Paul's is comparatively long for its width and has strongly projecting transepts. It has much emphasis on its facade, which has been designed to define rather than conceal the form of the building behind it. In plan, the towers jut beyond the width of the aisles as they do at Wells Cathedral. Wren's uncle Matthew Wren was the Bishop of Ely, and, having worked for his uncle, Wren was familiar with the unique octagonal lantern tower over the crossing of Ely Cathedral, which spans the aisles as well as the central nave, unlike the central towers and domes of most churches. Wren adapted this characteristic in designing the dome of St Paul's. In section St Paul's also maintains a medieval form, having the aisles much lower than the nave, and a defined clerestory.
Exterior
The most renowned exterior feature is the dome, which rises to the cross at its summit, and dominates views of the city. The height of 365 feet is explained by Wren's interest in astronomy. Until the late 20th century, St Paul's was the tallest building on the City skyline, designed to be seen surrounded by the delicate spires of Wren's other city churches. The dome is described by SirBanister Fletcher as "probably the finest in Europe", by Helen Gardner (art historian), Helen Gardner as "majestic", and by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as "one of the most perfect in the world". Sir John Summerson said that Englishmen and "even some foreigners" consider it to be without equal.
Dome
Wren drew inspiration from Michelangelo's dome of St Peter's Basilica and that of Mansart's Church of the Val-de-Grâce, which he had visited. Unlike those of St Peter's and Val-de-Grâce, the dome of St Paul's rises in two clearly defined storeys of masonry, which, together with a lower unadorned footing, equal a height of about 95 feet. From the time of the ''Greek Cross Design'' it is clear that Wren favoured a continuous colonnade (''peristyle'') around the drum of the dome, rather than the arrangement of alternating windows and projecting columns that Michelangelo had used and which had also been employed by Mansart. Summerson suggests that he was influenced by Bramante's "Tempietto" in the courtyard of San Pietro in Montorio. In the finished structure, Wren creates a diversity and appearance of strength by placing niches between the columns in every fourth opening. The peristyle serves to buttress both the inner dome and the brick cone, which rises internally to support the lantern.
Above the peristyle rises the second stage, surrounded by a balustraded balcony called the "Stone Gallery". This attic stage is ornamented with alternating pilasters and rectangular windows, which are set just below the cornice, creating a sense of lightness. Above this attic rises the dome, covered with lead and ribbed in accordance with the spacing of the pilasters. It is pierced by eight light wells just below the lantern, but these are barely visible. They allow light to penetrate through openings in the brick cone, which illuminates the interior apex of this shell, partly visible from within the cathedral through the ocular opening of the lower dome.
The lantern, like the visible masonry of the dome, rises in stages. The most unusual characteristic of this structure is that it is of a square plan, rather than circular or octagonal. The tallest stage takes the form of a ''tempietto'' with four columned porticos facing the cardinal points. Its lowest level is surrounded by the "Golden Gallery" and its upper level supports a small dome from which rises a cross on a golden ball. The total weight of the lantern is about 850 tons.
West front
For the Renaissance architect designing the west front of a large church or cathedral, the universal problem was how to use a facade to unite the high central nave with the lower aisles in a visually harmonious whole. Since Leon Battista Alberti, Alberti's additions to Santa Maria Novella in Florence, this was usually achieved by the simple expedient of linking the sides to the centre with large brackets. This is the solution that Wren saw employed by Mansart at Val-de-Grâce. Another feature employed by Mansart was a boldly projecting Classical portico with paired columns. Wren faced the additional challenge of incorporating towers into the design, as had been planned at St Peter's Basilica. At St Peter's, Carlo Maderno had solved this problem by constructing a narthex and stretching a huge screen facade across it, differentiated at the centre by a pediment. The towers at St Peter's were not built above the parapet.
Wren's solution was to employ a Classical portico, as at Val-de-Grâce, but rising through two storeys and supported on paired columns. The remarkable feature here is that the lower story of this portico extends to the full width of the aisles, while the upper section defines the nave behind it. The gaps between the upper stage of the portico and the towers on either side are bridged by a narrow section of wall with an arch-topped window.
The towers stand outside the width of the aisles but screen two chapels located immediately behind them. The lower parts of the towers continue the theme of the outer walls but are differentiated from them to create an appearance of strength. The windows of the lower story are smaller than those of the side walls and are deeply recessed, a visual indication of the thickness of the wall. The paired pilasters at each corner project boldly.
Above the main cornice, which unites the towers with the portico and the outer walls, the details are boldly scaled in order to read well from the street below and from a distance. The towers rise above the cornice from a square block plinth, which is plain apart from large oculi, that on the south being filled by the clock, while that on the north is void. The towers are composed of two complementary elements, a central cylinder rising through the tiers in a series of stacked drums, and paired Corinthian columns at the corners, with buttresses above them, which serve to unify the drum shape with the square plinth on which it stands. The entablature above the columns breaks forward over them to express both elements, tying them together in a single horizontal band. The cap, an ogee-shaped dome, supports a gilded finial in the form of a pineapple.
The transepts each have a semi-circular entrance portico. Wren was inspired in the design by studying engravings of Pietro da Cortona's Baroque facade of Santa Maria della Pace in Rome. These projecting arcs echo the shape of the apse at the eastern end of the building.
Walls
The building is of two storeys of ashlar masonry, above a basement, and surrounded by a balustrade above the upper cornice. The balustrade was added, against Wren's wishes, in 1718. The internal bays are marked externally by paired pilasters with Corinthian capitals at the lower level and Composite at the upper level. Where the building behind is of only one story (at the aisles of both nave and choir), the upper story of the exterior wall is a sham. It serves a dual purpose of supporting the buttresses of the vault and providing a satisfying appearance when viewed rising above buildings at the height of the 17th-century city. This appearance may still be seen from across the River Thames.
Between the pilasters on both levels are windows. Those of the lower storey have semi-circular heads and are surrounded by continuous mouldings of a Roman style, rising to decorative keystones. Beneath each window is a floral swag by Grinling Gibbons, constituting the finest stone carving on the building and some of the greatest architectural sculpture in England. A frieze with similar swags runs in a band below the cornice, tying the arches of the windows and the capitals. The upper windows are of a restrained Classical form, with pediments set on columns, but are blind and contain niches. Beneath these niches, and on the basement level, are small windows with segmental tops, the glazing of which catches the light and visually links them to the large windows of the aisles. The height from ground level to the top of the parapet is approximately 110 feet.
Fencing
The original fencing, designed by Wren, was dismantled in the 1870s. The John George Howard, surveyor for the government of Toronto had it shipped to Toronto, where it has since adorned High Park.
Interior
Internally, St Paul's has a nave and choir in each of its three bays. The entrance from the west portico is through a square domed narthex, flanked by chapels: the Chapel of St Dunstan to the north and the Chapel of the Order of St Michael and St George to the south. The nave is in height and is separated from the aisles by an arcade of piers with attached Corinthian pilasters rising to an entablature. The bays, and therefore the vault compartments, are rectangular, but Wren roofed these spaces with saucer-shaped domes and surrounded the clerestory windows with lunettes. The vaults of the choir are decorated with mosaics by Sir William Blake Richmond. The dome and the apse of the choir are all approached through wide arches with coffered vaults, which contrast with the smooth surface of the domes and punctuate the division between the main spaces. The transepts extend to the north and south of the dome and are called (in this instance) the North Choir and the South Choir.
The Choir (architecture), choir holds the stalls for the clergy, cathedral officers, and the choir, and the organ. These wooden fittings, including the pulpit and Bishop's throne, were designed in Wren's office and built by joiners. The carvings are the work of Grinling Gibbons whom Summerson describes as having "astonishing facility", suggesting that Gibbons' aim was to reproduce popular Dutch flower painting in wood. Jean Tijou, a French metalworker, provided various wrought iron and gilt grilles, gates, and balustrades of elaborate design, of which many pieces have now been combined into the gates near the sanctuary.
The cathedral is some in length (including the portico of the Great West Door), of which is the nave and is the choir. The width of the nave is and across the transepts is . The cathedral is slightly shorter but somewhat wider than Old St Paul's.
Dome
The main internal space of the cathedral is under the central dome, which extends the full width of the nave and aisles. The dome is supported on pendentives rising between eight arches spanning the nave, choir, transepts, and aisles. The eight piers that carry them are not evenly spaced. Wren has maintained an appearance of eight equal spans by inserting segmental arches to carry galleries across the ends of the aisles and has extended the mouldings of the upper arch to appear equal to the wider arches.
Above the keystones of the arches, at above the floor and wide, runs a cornice which supports the ''Whispering Gallery'' so called because of its acoustic properties: a whisper or low murmur against its wall at any point is audible to a listener with an ear held to the wall at any other point around the gallery. It is reached by 259 steps from ground level.
The dome is raised on a tall drum surrounded by pilasters and pierced with windows in groups of three, separated by eight gilded niches containing statues and repeating the pattern of the peristyle on the exterior. The dome rises above a gilded cornice at to a height of . Its painted decoration by Sir James Thornhill shows eight scenes from the life of
St Paul set in illusionistic architecture which continues the forms of the eight niches of the drum. At the apex of the dome is an Oculus (architecture), oculus inspired by that of the Pantheon, Rome, Pantheon in Rome. Through this hole can be seen the decorated inner surface of the cone, which supports the lantern. This upper space is lit by the light wells in the outer dome and openings in the brick cone. Engravings of Thornhill's paintings were published in 1720.
Apse
The eastern apse extends the width of the choir and is the full height of the main arches across the choir and nave. It is decorated with mosaics, in keeping with the choir vaults. The original reredos and high altar were destroyed by bombing in 1940. The present high altar and baldacchino are the work of W. Godfrey Allen and Stephen Dykes Bower. The apse was dedicated in 1958 as the American Memorial Chapel. It was paid for entirely by donations from British people. 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 windows of the apse date from 1960 and depict 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 NASA, achievements in space.
Artworks, tombs and memorials
St Paul's, at the time of its completion, was adorned by sculpture in stone and wood: most notably that of Grinling Gibbons, by the paintings in the dome by Thornhill, and by Jean Tijou's elaborate metalwork. It has been further enhanced by Sir William Richmond's mosaics and the fittings by Dykes Bower and Godfrey Allen. Other artworks in the cathedral include, in the south aisle, William Holman Hunt's copy of his painting ''The Light of the World (painting), The Light of the World'', the original of which hangs in Keble College, Oxford. The St Paul's version was completed with significant input from Edward Robert Hughes as Hunt was now suffering from glaucoma. In the north choir aisle is a limestone sculpture of the ''Madonna and Child'' by Henry Moore, carved in 1943. The crypt contains more than 200 memorials and numerous burials. Christopher Wren was the first person to be interred, in 1723. On the wall above his tomb in the crypt is written in Latin: ''Lector, si monumentum requiris, circumspice'' ("Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you").

The largest monument in the cathedral is that to the
Duke of Wellington by Alfred Stevens (sculptor), Alfred Stevens. It stands on the north side of the nave and has on top a statue of Wellington astride his horse "Copenhagen". Although the equestrian figure was planned at the outset, objections to the notion of having a horse in the church prevented its installation until 1912. The horse and rider are by John Tweed. The Duke is buried in the crypt.
The tomb of Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, Horatio, Lord Nelson is located in the crypt, next to that of Wellington. The marble sarcophagus which holds Nelson's remains was made for Cardinal Wolsey but not used as the cardinal had fallen from favour. At the eastern end of the crypt is the Chapel of the Order of the British Empire, instigated in 1917, and designed by John Seely, Lord Mottistone. There are many other memorials commemorating the British military, including several lists of servicemen who died in action, the most recent being the Gulf War.
Also remembered are Florence Nightingale, J. M. W. Turner, Arthur Sullivan, Hubert Parry, Samuel Johnson, Lawrence of Arabia, William Blake, William Jones (philologist), William Jones and Sir Alexander Fleming as well as clergy and residents of the local parish. There are lists of the bishops and cathedral deans for the last thousand years. One of the most remarkable sculptures is that of the Dean and poet, John Donne. Before his death, Donne posed for his own memorial statue and was depicted by Nicholas Stone as wrapped in a burial shroud and standing on a funeral urn. The sculpture, carved around 1630, is the only one to have survived the conflagration of 1666 intact. The treasury is also in the crypt, but the cathedral has very few treasures as many have been lost and, on 22 December 1810, a major robbery took almost all of the remaining precious artefacts.
The funerals of many notable figures have been held in the cathedral, including those of Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington,
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...
, George Mallory and Margaret Thatcher.
;The East India Company Trail at St Paul's Cathedral
In 2023, following nationwide discussions over the status and value of memorial statues celebrating the lives of individuals involved with the British Empire, including slavery, St Paul's Cathedral initiated a partnership with Stepney Community Trust, a community-led charity based out of the East End of London. A group of volunteers was recruited to help historically situate the many memorial statues inside St Paul's Cathedral whose careers, actions and views were associated with historic harm done to communities in South Asia. The project entailed writing explanatory texts that situated the highly eulogistic statues in their wider historical context. (These texts are available on the website of St Paul's Cathedral on webpages titled "The East India Company at St. Paul's".)
Memorials thus contextualised include th
statue of Charles George Gordon th
statue of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington th
statue of Richard Southwell Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo th
statue of Bishop Thomas Fanshaw Middleton th
statue of Granville Gower Loch th
statue of William Jones th
statue of Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis th
statue of Henry Montgomery Lawrence th
statue of Henry Bartle Frere th
statue of Robert Cornelius Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala th
statue of Charles James Napier th
statue of Charles Metcalfe Macgregor th
statue of Samuel James Browne th
statue of Harry Smith Parkesand th
memorial to Indian Army Volunteers The trail has a printed guide that visitors may use, and the statues on the trail are identifiable by a graphic and a QR code, which leads to the relevant webpage upon scanning. The graphic is original artwork produced by graphic design artist Sonal Agarwal and represents a cluster of statues of South Asian persons, men and women, who currently serve as decorative or supportive features of the main statues.
Geometric Staircase
The Geometric Staircase, a helical cantilevered staircase rising 50 feet with 88 stone stairs, designed by Christopher Wren, was built by William Kempster (mason), William Kempster in the southwest tower of the cathedral and completed in 1710. The steps are only embedded about 150mm into the walls since they are mainly supported by the steps below. The staircase has been featured in several major films.
Clock
A clock was installed in the southwest tower by Langley Bradley in 1709 but was worn out by the end of the 19th century. The present mechanism was built in 1893 by Smith of Derby Group, Smith of Derby incorporating a design of escapement by Edmund Beckett, 1st Baron Grimthorpe, Edmund Denison Beckett similar to that used by Edward John Dent, Edward Dent on Big Ben's mechanism in 1895. The clock mechanism is long and is the most recent of the clocks introduced to St Paul's Cathedral over the centuries. Since 1969, the clock has been electrically wound with equipment designed and installed by Smith of Derby, relieving the clock custodian from the work of cranking up the heavy drive weights.
Great Paul
The southwest tower also contains four bells, of which Great Paul, cast in 1881 by John William Taylor, J. W. Taylor of John Taylor & Co, Taylor's bell foundry of Loughborough, at was the largest bell in the British Isles until the casting of the Olympic Bell for the 2012 London Olympics.
Although the bell is traditionally sounded at 1 pm each day, Great Paul had not been rung for several years because of a broken chiming mechanism. In the 1970s, the fastening mechanism that secured the clapper had fractured, sending both through the clock mechanism below and causing damage that cost £30,000 to repair. In about 1989 the clapper fractured completely, although less damage was sustained. On 31 July 2021, during the London Festival of the Bells, Great Paul rang for the first time in two decades, being hand swung by the bell ringers.
Great Tom
The clock bells include Great Tom, which was moved from St Stephen's Chapel at the Palace of Westminster and has been recast several times, the last time by Richard Phelps (bellfounder), Richard Phelps. It chimes the hour and is traditionally tolled on occasions of a death in the royal family, the Bishop of London, or the Lord Mayor of London, although an exception was made at the death of the US president James Garfield. It was last tolled for the death of
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
in 2022, ringing once every minute along with other bells across the country in honour of the 96 years of her life.
[E! News, ''Hear Bells Around the World Ring for Queen Elizabeth II After Her Death'', Kisha Forde, September 9, 2022](_blank)
, Retrieved 19 September 2022.
Quarter-jacks
In 1717, Richard Phelps cast two more bells that were added as "quarter jacks" that ring on the quarter hour. Still in use today, the first weighs , is in diameter and is tuned to A; the second weighs , is in diameter and is tuned to E. They are sometimes known as Ding and Dong due to the way they sound.
Bells
The northwest tower contains 13 bells. A ring of bells, ring of 12 bells by John Taylor & Co of Loughborough hung for change ringing, and the single communion bell. In January 2018, the bells were removed for refurbishment and were rehung in September that year, being rung again for the first time on All Saints' Day. The original service or "Communion" bell dating from 1700 and known as "the Banger" is rung before 8 a.m. services.
Education, tourism, and the arts
Interpretation Project
The Interpretation Project was a long-term project concerned with bringing St Paul's to life for all its visitors. In 2010, the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's opened St Paul's Oculus, a 270° film experience that brings 1400 years of history to life. It was located in the former Treasury in the crypt, the film took visitors on a journey through the history and daily life of St Paul's Cathedral. Oculus was funded by American Express Company in partnership with the World Monuments Fund, J. P. Morgan, the Garfield Weston Trust for St Paul's Cathedral, the City of London Endowment Trust and AIG. It was closed by 2020. The Treasury space is now used for changing exhibitions.
In 2010, touchscreen multimedia guides were launched. These guides are included in the price of admission. Visitors can discover the cathedral's history and architecture, and learn about the daily life of a busy working church with these new multimedia guides. They are available in 12 different languages: English language, English, French language, French, German language, German, Italian language, Italian, Spanish language, Spanish, Portuguese language, Portuguese, Polish language, Polish, Russian language, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, Mandarin, Japanese language, Japanese, Korean language, Korean and British Sign Language (BSL). The guides have fly-through videos of the dome galleries and zoomable close-ups of the ceiling mosaics, painting, and photography. Interviews and commentary from experts include the
Dean of St Paul's, the conservation team, and the Director of Music. Archive film footage includes major services and events from the cathedral's history.
Charges for sightseers
St Paul's charges an entrance fee for sightseers; admission to worship services is free. The entrance ticket is £25 for adults (June 2024). Outside service times, people seeking a quiet place to pray or worship are admitted to St Dunstan's Chapel free of charge. On Sundays people are admitted only for services and concerts and there is no sightseeing. The charge to sightseers is made because St Paul's receives little regular or significant funding from the Crown, the Church of England or the state and relies on the income generated by tourism to allow the building to continue to function as a centre for Christian worship, as well as to cover general maintenance and repair work.
St Paul's Cathedral Arts Project
The St Paul's Cathedral Arts Project explores art and faith. Projects have included installations by Gerry Judah, Antony Gormley, Rebecca Horn, Yoko Ono and Martin Firrell.
In 2014, St Paul's commissioned Gerry Judah to create an artwork in the nave to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. Two spectacular sculptures consisting of three-dimensional white cruciforms reflect the meticulously maintained war graves of northern France and further afield. Each sculpture is also embellished with miniaturised destroyed residential blocks depicting contemporary war zones in the Middle East—Syrian civil war, Syria, Iraq War, Baghdad, War in Afghanistan (2001–2021), Afghanistan—thus connecting 100 years of warfare.
Bill Viola has created two altarpieces for permanent display in St Paul's Cathedral. The project commenced production in mid-2009. Following the extensive programme of cleaning and repair of the interior of St Paul's, completed in 2005, Viola was commissioned to create two altarpieces on the themes of Mary and Martyrs. These two multi-screen video installations are permanently located at the end of the Quire aisles, flanking the High Altar of the cathedral and the American Memorial Chapel. Each work employs an arrangement of multiple plasma screen panels configured in a manner similar to historic altarpieces.
In summer 2010, St Paul's chose two new works by the British artist Mark Alexander to be hung on either side of the nave. Both entitled Red Mannheim, Alexander's large red silkscreens are inspired by the Mannheim Cathedral altarpiece (1739–41), which was damaged by bombing in the Second World War. The original sculpture depicts Christ on the cross, surrounded by a familiar retinue of mourners. Rendered in splendid giltwood, with Christ's wracked body sculpted in relief and the flourishes of flora and incandescent rays from heaven, this masterpiece of the German Rococo is an object of ravishing beauty and intense piety.
In March 2010, Flare II, a sculpture by Antony Gormley, was installed in the Geometric Staircase.
In 2007, the Dean and Chapter commissioned Martin Firrell to create a major public artwork to mark the 300th anniversary of the topping-out of Wren's building. The Question Mark Inside consisted of digital text projections to the cathedral dome, West Front, and inside onto the Whispering Gallery. The text was based on blog contributions by the general public as well as interviews conducted by the artist and on the artist's own views. The project presented a stream of possible answers to the question: "What makes life meaningful and purposeful, and what does St Paul's mean in that contemporary context?" The Question Mark Inside opened on 8 November 2008 and ran for eight nights.
Depictions of St Paul's
St Paul's Cathedral has been depicted many times in paintings, prints, and drawings. Among the well-known artists to have painted it are Canaletto, Turner, Daubigny, Pissarro, Paul Signac, Signac, Derain, and Lloyd Rees.
File:Giovanni Antonio Canal - The River Thames, detail.jpg, Canaletto: ''The River Thames with St. Paul's Cathedral on Lord Mayor's Day'' (1746; Lobkowicz Palace, Lobkowicz Collections, Prague)
File:St Paul's by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd (early 19th century).jpg, 19th-century coloured engraving from the southwest by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd
File:Edward Angelo Goodall04.jpg, Romantic 19th-century engraving of St Paul's in the evening after rain by Edward Angelo Goodall
File:John O'Connor - Ludgate, Evening - 1887.jpg, Oil painting, John O'Connor (painter), John O'Connor, ''Evening on Ludgate Hill'' (1887) St Paul's looms beyond St Martin's
File:Canaletto london.jpg, ''St Paul's from Richmond House'' in Westminster by the Venetian painter Canaletto (1747)
File:Antonio Joli Prospect of London.jpg, ''St Paul's viewed from a loggia'', a ''Capriccio (art), capriccio'' () by Antonio Joli who also worked in Venice
File:Ernest Dade - St Paul's from the River.jpg, An Impressionist view of ''St Paul's from the River'' by Ernest Dade (before 1936)
File:Frederick Edward Joseph Goff St Paul's from Bankside.jpg, ''St Paul's from Bankside'', a watercolour by Frederick E. J. Goff (before 1931)
Photography and portrayal in fiction
St Paul's Cathedral has been the subject of many photographs, including the iconic image of the dome surrounded by smoke during the The Blitz, Blitz. It has also been used in games, films and TV programmes (including Thames Television's most recognised ident), either as the focus of the film, as in the episode of ''Climbing Great Buildings''; as a feature of the film, as in ''Mary Poppins (film), Mary Poppins''; as an incidental location such as Wren's Geometric Staircase in the southwest tower which has appeared in several films including ''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'', or as a playable location in the 1998 video game ''Tomb Raider III''.
Films in which St Paul's has been depicted include:
* ''St. Paul's Cathedral'' (1942), a wartime documentary film for the British Council, the final part of which shows bomb damage in and around St Paul's.
* ''Lawrence of Arabia (film), Lawrence of Arabia'' (1962) shows the exterior of the building and the bust of T. E. Lawrence.
* ''Mary Poppins (film), Mary Poppins'' (1964) shows the steps and west front of the cathedral, the main setting for the song '"Feed the Birds'".
* St Paul's Cathedral has appeared as a filming location twice in ''Doctor Who'', in the 1968 serial ''The Invasion (Doctor Who), The Invasion'', and in the 2014 two-part story "Dark Water (Doctor Who), Dark Water"/"Death in Heaven". In both, the Cybermen are shown descending steps outside the cathedral.
* St Paul's is seen briefly in the ''The Goodies (TV series), Goodies'' episode "Kitten Kong" (1971). During his rampage through London, Twinkle damages London landmarks, including St Paul's Cathedral, the dome of which is knocked off.
* In the BBC educational programme "Q.E.D. (BBC TV series), A Guide to Armageddon" (1982), a one-megaton nuclear weapon is detonated over London, with St Paul's used as ground zero.
* ''Lifeforce (film), Lifeforce'' (1985): The cathedral's interior is the setting for the climax of the film.
* ''The Madness of King George'' (1994) shows the Geometric Staircase in the southwest bell tower.
* ''Tomb Raider III'' (1998) features St Paul's as the centerpiece of the playable London chapter, which Lara Croft explores on the hunt for the Eye of Isis. Notably, this version of St Paul's is missing the iconic dome, which appears to be destroyed. However, the ''Tomb Raider I–III Remastered'' collection (2024) fixed this and depicts St Paul's complete with its iconic dome. In addition to this, St Paul's dome is prominently displayed on the cover of the 1998 game.
* ''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'' (2004) shows the Geometric Staircase in the southwest bell tower, representing the staircase towards the Divination classroom.
* ''Star Trek Into Darkness'' (2013) depicts St Paul's in 23rd century London along with other notable modern-day London buildings.
* St Paul's is the only building of ancient London that survived the "Sixty Minute War" in the film ''Mortal Engines (film), Mortal Engines'' (2018) and the Mortal Engines Quartet, books it is based on.
See also
* :Burials at St Paul's Cathedral
* History of early modern period domes
* List of cathedrals in the United Kingdom
* List of churches and cathedrals of London
* List of tallest domes
* List of tallest structures built before the 20th century
* Magnificat and Nunc dimittis for St Paul's Cathedral
* Paternoster Square
* Cyril Raikes (fire watching on the dome of St Paul's Cathedral in the Second World War)
* Tall buildings in London
References
Notes
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External links
The Sound of Bells—Great Paul from William Hibbert (self-published)
St. Paul's Cathedralfrom Google Arts and Culture
Wren's various designsThe 'Registrum Statutorum..' of St Paul's��Collected charters and other documents from the earliest years until the nineteenth century. Published by the cathedral in 1873, Latin and English.
at the Ship of Fools (website), Ship of Fools website
The Chapel of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire—OBE ChapelSt Paul's lithographs c. 1647–1817The giant 350-year-old model of St Paul's Cathedral��Short BBC video on the Saint Paul's Cathedral model built by Christopher Wren
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Pauls Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral,
1708 establishments in England
18th-century Church of England church buildings
604 establishments
Anglican cathedrals in England, Saint Paul's
Christopher Wren church buildings in London
Church buildings with domes
Churches completed in 1708
Churches completed in the 600s
Churches in the City of London
Diocese of London
English Baroque church buildings
Grade I listed cathedrals
Grade I listed churches in the City of London
Nicholas Hawksmoor buildings
Rebuilt churches in the United Kingdom
Tourist attractions in the City of London