Christopher
Wren, the son of the Dean of Windsor, and nephew of Dr. Mathew Wren,
the Bishop of Norwich, was born in 1632.
As his father was the king's chaplain, Christopher spent his early
life in Windsor Castle. As a child he played with the king's son who
later became Charles
II.
Christopher was an intelligent boy and did very well at school. He
was particularly interested in mathematics and science, and by the
age of seventeen had made several inventions. These included an instrument
that wrote in the dark, a weather clock, a pneumatic engine and a
new deaf and dumb language.
At Oxford University Wren developed a reputation
as a brilliant scientist. He carried out a series of experiments that
was to prove very important for health care. For example, he showed
how it was possible to send people into a deep sleep by injecting
them with opium. This helped doctors who wanted to carry out long
operations. Wren himself used this system to remove a spleen from
a dog. He also successfully used a syringe to transfer blood from
one dog to another.
In 1657 Wren was appointed as professor of astronomy at Gresham College
in London. Wren became interested in the laws of motion. He carried
out several experiments on this subject, and when Isaac
Newton developed the theory of gravity he was quick to point out
that he owed a great deal to the work of Wren.
Wren joined a group of mathematicians, scientists and scholars that
met to discuss new ideas and in 1662 Charles II granted them a charter
to establish the Royal Society of London for Promoting Natural Knowledge.
When Wren was a student, Christopher Wren read a book entitled On
Architecture. The book had been written by a Roman architect
called Vitruvius in the first century AD. After reading On
Architecture, Wren developed a desire to design buildings
similar to those built by the Romans. In 1663 Wren visited Rome and
was particularly impressed with the Theatre of Marcellus. Although
the theatre was in ruins, Wren was able to inspect drawings that revealed
what the theatre looked like when it was first built. When Wren was
later asked to design a new theatre in Oxford,
he decided to use the information that he had gained when studying
the Theatre of Marcellus in Rome.
On 2nd September, 1666, the Great Fire
of London destroyed a large area of the city. Charles
II had to appoint
someone to take charge of rebuilding London. After much thought the
king gave the job to his childhood friend, Christopher Wren. This
included the task of building over fifty new churches in London.
Wren was also commissioned to design and build St.
Paul's Cathedral. St. Paul's took thirty-five years to build.
The most dramatic aspect of St. Paul's was its great dome. It was
the second largest dome ever built (the largest was St. Peter's Basilica
in Rome). Both domes were based on the one in the Pantheon built by
the ancient Romans.
Wren was sixty-six years old when he finished St. Paul's. Other buildings
designed by Wren included the Royal Exchange,
College of Physicians, Chelsea
Hospital, the Royal Naval College,
Custom House and the Drury
Lane Theatre. When Christopher Wren died in 1723 he became the
first person to be buried in St. Paul's Cathedral.
(1)
Celia Fiennes described St. Paul's Cathedral
in her journal in 1702.
The
great cathedral of St. Paul's was burnt by fire. It has since been
rebuilt by a tax on coal. It is now almost finished and is very magnificent.
The body of the church is not quite done. The church is going to be
closed on the top with a large dome.
(2)
Daniel Defoe described St. Paul's Cathedral
in a letter that he wrote in 1723.
The
cathedral of St. Paul's is exceedingly beautiful. The church of St.
Peter's in Rome, which is believed to be the most magnificent in the
world, only exceeds St. Paul's in the magnificence of its inside work;
the painting, the altars, and the oratories, things, which, in a Protestant
church are not allowed.
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