A different challenge had now been presented to Christopher Wren, and just 9 days after the fire, he put forward a preliminary design. Despite the fast start, there would be another 9 years of discussion and planning before a decision was made to go ahead. Construction began in 1675 and would not be completed until Christmas Day in 1711, when it was opened. Wren died in 1723 and so lived to see his great work complete. I would later see his tomb in St Paul’s crypt. A plaque nearby says ‘ Lector, Si, Monumentum, Requiris, Circumspice’  (Reader: if you seek a monument, look around you). 

Domes

A few days back, Queenie had dismissed Wren’s cathedral as poor architecture. In contrast, I rather like its unusual design. Maybe its a ‘dome thing.’ Some people like them, and others don’t. His design for the cathedral had gone through five versions. The first one included a dome vestibule, but was thought not stately enough. The second design was based on a Greek cross, but the Anglicans didn’t like this reference to Greek liturgy. The third design still retained the Greek cross design but extended it with the nave. This all seemed a bit too radical and dissimilar to other churches moaned the Bishops. If I’d been Wren, I think I’d have told them where to stuff it at this point. The fourth design reconciled the familiar Gothic English style and used the longitudinal Latin Cross plan of a medieval church. The Dome looked quite narrow in the plans and the steeple more prominent. It is said that the same concept of the steeple in this design was applied to nearby St Brides church. I passed that a few days ago (see London 40 Year Pub Crawl). The tiers on the steeple are said to have inspired the tradition of having layers on a wedding cake. To me, the fourth design looked like the worst of both worlds and it wasn’t acceptable to the great and good, since they asked for another design. Wren must have been pulling his long hair out by this stage. The final design differed substantially from the fourth design. The Dome was back in vogue and it was thought his final design was strongly influenced by St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. 

Ticket Trouble

I bought an entry ticket online and approved the payment in my bank app. The process went swimmingly except I didn’t receive a ticket in my email box. Doh! I looked at my bank account and no payment had been deducted…yet. I wondered if there was just some sort of delay in the process. At £27 a ticket, I didn’t really want to pay twice. I explained the situation to the chap on the ticket desk, but he said he couldn’t tell from his end whether tickets had been bought or not. I sighed and bought another ticket; I’d just have to cross my fingers that the other payment didn’t go through eventually. 

I was issued with a small tablet and some headphones. These allowed me to invoke little podcasts that gave me interesting information about the cathedral. The ticket entitled me to a free guided tour and so I asked the attendants at the information desk about them. There was a short and longer tour. My preference was for the longer one and this would start in an hour's time. One of the chaps suggested I could climb to the dome and then come back for the long tour. It seemed a good idea and so I headed off down the spectacular nave to the Dome. 

Whispering Gallery

I entered a stone spiral staircase that led to the Whispering Gallery of the dome. The staircase was wide, the steps were shallow and it was a relatively easy climb. The top of the staircase led to a little door that gave access to the Whispering Gallery. This was an impressive walking ledge around the base of the dome. I could look down to the crossing point of the Cathedral 30m below. I felt completely safe since the walkway around the circumference of the Whispering Gallery was totally enclosed by a metal frame and mesh. A sign had warned me that photography was not allowed in this area, presumably because people put their phones through the mesh and then dropped them on to the people below. There was a bouncer at the door’s entrance making sure that everybody complied. Above the walkway was a circle of windows and above that was the amazing painted dome. This was in fact an inner dome and wasn’t the one you see externally. There are actually three domes, but more of that later. The inner dome allows the paintings on the dome to be seen with the correct perspective. It was spectacular. 

I started making my way around the dome. After a few yards, I heard somebody say something behind me. I turned around and nobody was there. The Whispering Gallery is well named. The voices had actually come from a couple of people who were walking on the other side of the Whispering Gallery.  Unintentionally, the dome has acoustics that focus the sound onto the other side of the dome. It did actually seem like they were whispering in my ear when they talked. It was very unusual. I was about a quarter of the way around the walkway when I found a side door with a sign saying it gave access to the Stone Gallery. I decided to visit this next and do the complete circuit of the Whispering Gallery when I came back. 

Stone Gallery

The Stone Gallery was situated 53m above the cathedral floor and 172 steps above the Whispering Gallery. That’s 376 steps from the cathedral’s floor! It was a narrower stone spiral staircase up to it. There was a metal banister that helped with the ascent, but this was wet and after a while I noticed that my hands were covered in what looked like sticky rust. Consequently,  I stopped using the banister, making the ascent more arduous.  Eventually I got to a door that led me to a little room where an attendant was sitting. I showed her my sticky rusty hands.
‘Yes, I noticed that too. I’m not sure what we can do about it,’ she said. I suggested that some paper towels might be a good idea. She said she hadn’t got any, but she offered me some of her bottled water to remove the worst of the rust. I left her to the next visitor who would want to wash their hands and stepped out onto the Stone Gallery. This was an external viewing terrace that circled the base of the dome above the windows that I’d seen above the Whispering Gallery. The Stone Gallery was surprisingly  wide  and had a reasonably high stone balustrade around it. It enabled me to complete almost a  full circuit of the dome. There were excellent views across the city. I particularly like the one over the two west towers and along Fleet Street. It was just a pity that there was a light rain. I found my way to another door that said it gave access to the Golden Gallery, the very top of the cathedral. 

Golden Gallery

The Golden Gallery  was 85m above the cathedral floor, and 152 steps above the Stone Gallery. That's a total of 528 steps above the cathedral floor! Access was by a combination of metal staircases and a narrow stone spiral staircase, the latter being the most challenging of the whole journey to the top. These steps were squeezed in between the outer and middle domes. The metal steps resembled some sort of squirrel run. It felt safe enough since I could only see the top of the middle dome and not the huge drop below it. Eventually, when I thought the final spiral staircase couldn’t get any narrower, the stairs ended in a door to the Golden Gallery. This felt much more exposed than the Whispering or Stone Galleries. The walkway was quite narrow, but there was a reasonably high metal railing so that you couldn’t fall off. Again, the high vantage point gave tremendous views around London. As I was making my way around the narrow walkway, I came across the very same chap that I’d met on the walkway around the top  of The Monument, just over an hour ago.  Due to the narrowness of the Monument walkway, we’d had an enforced and frankly embarrassing ‘brief encounter’ as we squeezed past each other. I sighed when I thought we might have the same problem here. Fortunately, he was going the same way as me and disappeared through a small doorway into a very narrow spiral staircase. This was obviously the way down and so I followed him.

The descent was just as troublesome as the ascent, but a little less exhausting. I remembered not to touch the rusty banister on my descent to the Whispering Gallery. When I got there, I experienced the same eerie experience of somebody whispering to me in my ear, as I had done earlier. The exit door to the Whispering Gallery was fairly near to the entrance. As I was about to leave, a teenage girl and her mother were trying to get through the entrance. The girl was so frightened that she wouldn’t leave hold of the stonework around the door. In fact, she couldn’t even look into the Whispering Gallery and was facing the other way. She looked absolutely terrified. I left the couple and an attendant to sort the problem out and hurried downstairs. I didn’t want to miss my guided tour of the cathedral. 

Wars

The guided tour started at the Great West Doors at the western end of the cathedral. When open, these lead out to the multitude of steps leading to Fleet Street. Our tour guide was an American woman and she said that despite their size, the doors are surprisingly easy to open. There was a great view from the doors,  down the nave, through the quire to the east end of the cathedral. The floor of the nave had an unusual black and white chequered pattern. An inscription on the floor said: ‘ Remember men and women of Saint Pauls Watch who by the grace of God saved this cathedral from destruction in war 1939-1945.’ 300 people volunteered for the St Pauls Watch over the course of the war. Together with the air-raid wardens and firefighters, the Watch ensured that buckets of water, stepladders and hoses were at hand to deal with any disasters. Members of the Watch patrolled the Cathedral and put out any fires from the incendiary bombs before they could spread. The cathedral suffered two direct hits during the war. The first bomb exploded at the East End of the cathedral on the 10th of October 1940, and another over the North Transept on the 16th of April 1941. The high explosive blast from the East End bomb lifted the Quire roof from end to end, causing masonry to fall, destroying the altar below. The damage from the North Transept was even more significant. The bomb crashed through the roof, detonated mid-air, rocking the dome and pushing the south wall of the South Transept outwards. 

There were two quite unusual artworks on either side of the nave near the dome area. The sculptures were similar and were obviously in the shape of a large white cross. There appeared to be lots of attachments on the cross. Our tour guide said that some people say they look like starships in a Star Wars film. The attachments were intricate models of cities and settlements decimated by contemporary conflict. The main purpose of the sculptures was to remember those who died in World War I. I thought they looked quite interesting. 

Deans (Geometric) Staircase

You can only visit the Deans Staircase as part of a guided tour (just the long guided tour, I think). It is simply an ornate spiral staircase that goes from the ground floor up to the door of the Dean’s room above. I say simply, when in fact it involved some tremendous engineering for its day. There are 88 steps that climb 50 feet to the room above and the wide steps are only embedded in the wall by about 150mm. Some of the support for each step is also provided by the step directly below. The ornamental ironwork used for the banister was pretty impressive too. 

Dome

The central dome was probably the most impressive part of the cathedral. The dome is one of the largest in the world and weighs around 65,000 tons. There are actually 3 domes. The external one is a symmetrical hemisphere topped by a lantern. The lantern is actually supported by a middle dome made of brick and shaped like a cone. It is shaped to precisely conform to the mathematical concept of a cubic curve. Inside the cathedral, you look up to see the wonderfully painted inner dome . In its very centre you believe that you are looking at the lantern on the top of the cathedral. In fact, this is a visual trick and you are actually looking at a painting of the lantern on the inside of the middle dome. I’d loved to have been in the meeting room when Wren described that one to his clients. On the floor under the dome, the circular theme was continued with circular patterned stonework. It was still black and white, but incorporated an ochre red colour too. In my view, it resembled the sun. The very centre contained one of the many circular grates that are positioned on the floor throughout the cathedral. These grates were a 19th century addition to  provide a crude form of lighting for the crypt underneath and heating for the cathedral. 

Quire

Originally the Quire was separated from the Nave by an elaborate screen. This was removed in 1860 so now you can view the full length of the cathedral from east to west. We were led into the wooden stalls of the Quire for a much needed sit down. The carvings in the Quire were created by the famous Grinling Gibbons. Our guide pointed out the Cathedra, the chair where the bishop sits and makes the building a cathedral. In May 1812, suffragettes planted a bomb under the chair. Fortunately the bomb was faulty and failed to explode. In contrast to the nave, the roof of the eastern end of the cathedral was decorated with richly coloured mosaics. These were actually a late 19th century addition. They reflect light and seemed to sparkle. They have intricate religious designs. 

American Memorial Chapel

We moved on to the American Memorial Chapel at the eastern end of the Cathedral. After the damage by the Eastern End bomb blast, the chapel was rebuilt as a memorial to the American servicemen who had died during the war while based in Britain. The chapel contains a roll of honour of the names of 28,000 servicemen who lost their lives. The three stained glass windows in the chapel contain the state symbols for every American state. The wood carvings also include birds and flowers native to the US. Looking closely at the wood carving I could see some stars and a rocket! Our American tour guide said that everyday, somebody turns a page in the roll of honour. 

Crypt

We headed downstairs into the Crypt. It seemed a bit more spacious and lighter than other ones I’d been down. There were plenty of mosaics down here too, although these were on the floors. During the late half of the 19th century, making mosaics was deemed a useful occupation for female prisoners. They were allowed to learn the craft and prisoners from Woking and Fulham worked on the mosaic floor in the crypt including Lord Nelson’s tomb. They’d done a really good job. I liked the one of a crocodile representing Nelson’s victory at the battle of the Nile in 1798. By chance, we’d arrived at Nelson’s tomb three days after the 220th anniversary of his funeral. Somebody had left a wreath and a card at his tomb. The sarcophagus was originally made for Cardinal Wolsey, but he was interred in Leicester Abbey in an unmarked grave. Waste not, want not.

Nearby was the equally impressive tomb of the Duke of Wellington. Above, in the crypt’s ceiling was a coffin shaped trapdoor to the ground floor of the cathedral. An estimated one million people watched the Duke of Wellington’s funeral procession to St Paul's in 1852. 

We came to the simple slab tomb of Sir Christopher Wren. I noticed that there was a radiator running alongside it, but I suspect it wouldn’t have done him much good. There were a number of other notables buried down here too including JW Turner and Hubert Parry. 

Museum

There was a small museum located in the crypt. It was well worth a look around. It gave a comprehensive history of the cathedral and some interesting facts. I was surprised to find that four conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot were hanged, drawn and quartered in St Pauls Churchyard in 1606. A few months later a Jesuit priest Henry Garnet who was also implicated in the plot was also executed. His head was displayed on a pole on London Bridge, for good measure. There were some scientific sketches on display by Sir Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke. Their talents obviously went well beyond architecture and astronomy. 

Wren’s ceremonial staff was on display, inscribed with his title: ‘Surveyor to the Fabric.’ I’m not sure what the idea was with these staffs; they looked too tall to be used as a walking stick. His penknife and case was exhibited together with a rather battered looking cap that would have been used by a stonemason. 

Reflections

I was surprised to find a café in the crypt. I thought there might be some building or health regulations preventing such a thing, irrespective of the ethics. It didn’t bother me though;  I settled down for some cake and coffee. I’d really enjoyed the tour of St Paul's and it was well worth the entrance fee (I didn’t get charged twice in the end). I definitely recommend going up to the Whispering and Stone Galleries. The views from them are amazing. For those that don’t mind a little bit of exposure and a small section of narrow spiral staircase, then the Golden Gallery should be visited too. I’d definitely recommend going on the ‘free’ guided tour. The long one was supposed to last 2 hours, but it certainly didn’t feel like that. St Pauls wasn’t as big as York Minster or Lincoln Cathedral, but it has a unique design as cathedrals go. It’s also beautiful both inside and out.