- Kontesssa
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Don't Miss St Paul's
- October 27, 2008
- Rated 5 of 5 by
Abby071 from London, United Kingdom
St Paul’s Cathedral is one of the most beautiful of London's sights. The dome dominates the London skyline and if the mood takes you, you can climb the 530 steps to the Golden Gallery. Want to keep the kids quiet? Try getting them to practise their whispering in the Whispering Gallery whilst you get your breath back and take a look at the views. You’ll probably have worked up an appetite so before you move on, grab a bite to eat in the Refectory restaurant. London Pass holders get free admission plus discounts in the Refectory Restaurant the London Cathedral shop.
Abby
http://parkplaza.com/countyhall_london
Editor Pick
St Paul's Cathedral
- June 1, 2008
- Rated 5 of 5 by
callen60 from Ozarks, Missouri
If St. Paul’s wasn’t emblematic of London before World War II, the Blitz certainly fixed that. The famous images of Wren’s dome rising seemingly unhurt out of the surrounding fires and smoke, made it the embodiment of London’s resistance to the brutal Nazi bombardment. Less well known is the price that was paid for its survival (which only heightens the image): the fire battalions worked round the clock to preserve the Cathedral, at the expense of much of the surrounding neighborhood. Moreover, St. Paul’s did not escape unscathed: a major bomb crashed through the west end of the building in 1941, and you can still see some of its effects on the climb to the Whispering Gallery along the dome’s lower edge.
To me, visiting here seems essential to understanding London and England. It’s certainly worth a visit for its qualities as a structure, or more holistically, as a place of worship. Christopher Wren, whose ability as architect, planner, astronomer and scientist have made him one of my heroes over the past decade, created a building that is awe-inspiring, solid, airy and intimate. Wren, who had responsibility for rebuilding so much of London after the Great Fire, built at least the third Cathedral here on Ludgate Hill. The dome still rises well above almost all of London’s skyline, but modern construction (and post-Blitz reconstruction) around the area makes it awfully hard to see the hill. The building he put here was the first English cathedral built after the Reformation, a chance to state what the new English church was, instead of what it was not.
I find it powerful to visit places where people have worshipped for centuries or even a millennium. Although they did so in previous incarnations of this cathedral for many of those years, this place still carries a strong sense of history predating its 300 years. Wren’s Baroque cathedral is hardly without ornamentation, but it seems well chosen, neither too fanciful nor too restrained. It has a much more solid feel than gothic Westminster Abbey, and as a place of worship, I think I’d prefer it. Seven years ago, my wife and I came for evensong on a raining Wednesday evening, which proved to be among the highlights of that first trip to London.
Understandably, the ushers patiently but firmly escorted us out of the building after evensong was finished. We hadn’t returned to tour the church, and it was the first stop on our first full day in London. Unfortunately, we arrived later than we’d planned. Hoping to arrive just as St. Paul’s opened to visitors at 8:30 (or, as I dreamed, even earlier for morning prayer), we successfully negotiated the morning tube ride from Moorgate and climbed the steps just after 9 am. Jet lag was still raging in my teens, and negotiating a family forced march through the cathedral seemed a risky bet. So we invested in audio tours (£4) for everyone who wanted one, and set off to explore the cathedral separately. I was hoping for a verger tour, but the next one didn’t leave until 10, so I headed back to the desk, where the clerk kindly offered to renegotiate my bill for the family price.
Among the highlights for me were the great space under the dome, the carved wood quire and pulpit by Grinling Gibbons, and the American Chapel at the far east end. The audio tour made sure I noted the paintings by contemporary Russian artist Sergei Chepik, part of an effort to bring contemporary art into St. Paul’s, which makes sense if it is indeed to remain an active place of worship and not a museum. I don’t think I would have missed these large works, but I’m glad I didn’t. The four panels tell the story of Christ, from birth to resurrection, in an installation where they face each other in pairs, giving the set an added dimension.
Everyone wanted to climb the steps to the Whispering Gallery, so we gathered at the northeast end of the cathedral for the 150+ steps. It was here that we began paying the price for arriving late, as one of two busloads that arrived at 10 was also here, and on the way further up. It was hard to test the Gallery's famous acoustics, but the view of the mosaics from this level and the dome above was worth it. My acrophobia was waking up, and walking the narrow aisle along the railing with dozens of other pushing to get past wasn’t helping. I stepped up onto one of the pairs of benches running around at the dome’s wall, and enjoyed the view outwards and upwards. Even if your plans don’t call for anymore climbing, I wouldn’t skip this part of the cathedral. If you do need to rest, it’s much easier to do so on this climb than it is as you ascend to the outdoor galleries above.
Above the Whispering Gallery are an array of windows, and your view of the Cathedral is enhanced by being close to the dome over your head as well as farther from the floor, quire and apse below. I would have hoped for a more peaceful setting, but next time I’ll come earlier.
My family was split on heading up from here. My oldest decided not to climb, and my wife stayed with her; my younger two were going up regardless, and thinking about them 300 feet above London without me made my parental sensibilities ring wildly in alarm. In the end, the climb wasn’t too bad: it’s a little shorter ascent to the next gallery, which is a solid stone walkway with views out holes in the stone railing. It was still a bright, sunny morning, and this view out over London was better than I anticipated. We walked a full circuit of this level, and then climbed to the Golden Gallery. It’s not the uppermost level on the dome’s exterior, but it is as high as you can go these days.
This climb takes you up catwalks and over the top of Wren’s inner dome. It’s more challenging than the first two intervals, and I’d think twice if you’re uneasy in tight spaces or on steep mesh stairs.
The view over London is exquisite. It rivals that from the London Eye, and there’s no glass or metal frame in your way. Of course, nothing protects you from the elements, either, but the breezes weren’t too bad. The gallery is exceedingly narrow—perhaps 3 feet at its widest point right by the top of the stairwell, and much tighter in places. It was so crowded that once we stepped out, we couldn’t walk around, and were stuck simply waiting for others to finally head down. I nearly lost it as one of the teens ahead of me climbed the railing and leaned as far over as possible, but he survived, the line cleared, and we made it to the far side for a view to the east and the Tower of London.
From here, we headed to the crypt. Nelson’s tomb is on the main floor of the cathedral, but the number of other tombs and monuments seemed restrained compared to Westminster Abbey. On the lower level are Wren’s tomb, bearing his son’s famous epitaph ("If you seek his monument, look around you"), the tomb of Wellington, still surrounded by the battle flags carried at his funeral procession by Britain’s allies in the victory over Napoleon. Churchill isn’t buried here, but an ornate iron gate across the midpoint of the crypt honors him and his contributions to the nation. Joining him are numerous generals from the First and Second World Wars, panels commemorating the service of many units in both conflicts, and the politicians and soldiers who built the empire in the 18th and 19th centuries. I paused briefly in front of a table where a docent was selling guidebooks, and she struck up a conversation with me, taking me aside to point out one of her favorites, the monument to George Williams, founder of the YMCA: “Doesn’t he have just have the most wonderful smile? He looks so happy to me”, she said as we gazed on his image.
We emerged from the crypt just after noon. I was hopeful that we’d return later in the week for a service, perhaps on Maundy Thursday. It wasn’t to be, but I will come here every chance I get.
From journal London: All That We Could Afford
Editor Pick
St Paul's Cathedral
- April 11, 2008
- Rated 5 of 5 by
tvordj from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
On Ludgate Hill, at the end of The Strand, you come around a turn in the road and this huge domed building looms out at you amid the busy traffic. St. Paul's Cathedral was finished in 1710, built after the great fire of London in 1666 burned down Old St. Paul's. It's a Baroque masterpiece, filled with tombs, statues, frescos and gilded everything.
It costs 10 pounds for adults, 9 for seniors plus they have family (2 children 2 adults) tickets and that includes everything. You can visit the crypt and you can also climb up over 500 steps to go to the very top of the dome. It's fewer if you just want to go to the Whispering Gallery where a sound whispered on one side will travel around and be heard on the other. It really works! There's also an outside deck at the base of the dome with higher stone balustrades. At the very top, there's only a narrow walk way and a waist high railing. I'm ok with heights and even i found that a bit intimidating.
You aren't allowed to take photos in St. Paul's but i took a few "stealth" non-flash shots by aiming the camera from my waist and kept the best of the ones that came out, after i was scolded by a staff member for taking a proper photo of an angel statue. The decoration in the cathdral is just spectacular.
The Crypt is interesting as well, with the tombs of Waterloo veteran Wellington and Admiral Nelson. The simple tomb of Christopher Wren is there too, tucked away in a corner. There's a gift shop and a cafe as well for tired feet. They do have disabled access but you may have to ask for it. We did notice a platform that could fit a wheelchair on a rail to the crypt (where there are washrooms, and where the cafe and gift shop are). There's a wheelchair accessible entrance on the north side which enters via the crypt. The website, http://www.stpauls.co.uk/ has full descriptions of all the disabled access.
We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to St. Paul's. I didn't climb the dome this time but i have done in the past and the views are out of this world!
From journals
Mom and Me in London,
London and Italy on Tour 1996,
Bus Tour of the UK, August 1993
St. Paul's Cathedral
- June 19, 2006
- Rated 4 of 5 by
pchefbev from Canonsburg, Pennsylvania
St. Paul's is magnificent! We climbed the stairs (there are a LOT of them!) to the gallery in the dome—because of the wind that day, no one was being allowed to go higher to the outside of the dome. The view of the paintings around the dome is wonderful and the view to the floor is quite dizzying. Down below the main church is the crypt, which is worth exploring for the tombs and memorials to famous people. Christopher Wren, the architect of St. Paul's, is buried here. My favorite part of St. Paul's is the chapel at the back of the main floor, which is dedicated to the American servicemen who lost their lives helping to defend Britain during WWII. It was completely paid for by donations from the grateful people of Great Britain.
From journal A Little Bit of England
Editor Pick
St Paul's Cathedral
- April 8, 2006
- Rated 4 of 5 by
artslover from Calgary, Alberta
We have visited London three times and I had not yet been to St Paul's. After viewing a program about the Cathedral surviving the blitz during WWII, I decided I had to see inside this historic and most significant London church.We walked to St Paul's along the Strand and Fleet Street. Despite it's height, which dominates the area, from Fleet Street, it pops up into view only when you are about a block away. Despite going there in March, not a high season, the surrounding church yard and inside the Cathedral was filled with tourists.Admission is charged to go inside. St Paul's was built to be England's version of St Peter's in Rome and the resemblances are many. The magnificent soaring dome over the cathedral floor and the opulent decorations are much like St Peters. Lots of details about London and England's history can be learned as you wander about viewing the many details.We decided to walk up to the famous whispering gallery which encircles the base of the dome. While my children were fascinated with whispering along the wall and seeing how far away they could get from each other, I had a decidedly different experience. Upon leaving the stair way up to the whispering gallery, you come out to a narrow walkway with a railing on one side and a bench along the wall. From the whispering gallery, you can see to the floor of the cathedral, a long, long way down. Too long for me. I hate heights and the view was making me ill. You can walk from the whispering gallery area up to the top of the dome and get a view outside, but there was no way I was going to attempt that.I descended from the whispering gallery, much to my relief and went down to the crypts, as low as I could get, where a number of famous people are buried and where the Cathedral cafe and shop are located.The trip to St. Paul's is well worth the time but if you dislike heights, be warned before taking the stairs to the whispering gallery.
From journal 3 Days in London