There
has been a church on Ludgate Hill dedicated to St. Paul, London's
patron saint, since 604. The Normans began building another cathedral
on this site in 1087. By the 17th century it was in a state of decay
and in 1634 Inigo Jones was employed to restore it to its former glory.
On 2nd September, 1666, the Great Fire of London destroyed a large
area of the city including St. Paul's Cathedral. Sir
Christopher Wren was given the task of designing and rebuilding
St. Paul's - a task that was to take him thirty-five years to complete.
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.
When Christopher Wren died in 1723 he became
the first person to be buried in St. Paul's Cathedral.
Rudolf
Ackermann, St Paul's Cathedral,
from Microcosm of London (1808)
(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.
(3)
William Pyne, The
Microcosm of London (1808)
The
entrance to the west end is by three doors, with bassorelivos over
them: the one in the centre, which is much larger than the others,
is cased with white marble; and the sculpture over it represents St.
Paul preaching to the Bereans. At the entrance the vista has a very
impressive effect.
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