Wren's London Finished: St Paul's Cathedral...

....Before I start I'd like to some show some of those that didn't make the cut,
St James Piccadilly, St Benets Paul Wharf (Steve, in case you are ever in London, it is London's Welsh church and does its services in Welsh), St Mary's Pattern and St Martins Ludgate.

The seat of the bishop of London and dedicated to Paul the Apostle, St Paul's Cathedral is the second largest church in the UK, do you know the largest??.

The cathedral is one of London's most famous landmarks, and will usually poke its head out at most central London pictures that are taken the reason being that there is a protective zone for new buildings erected the city, plans will not be approved if they obstruct views of the cathedral from close sites such as Parliament Hill and Waterloo Bridge to distant view such as Greenwich Park, Primrose Hill and Richmond Park which is over 10 miles away, have a look.

What you see in front of you is the final of Wren's 5 designs that he sent for approval and was very much based on St Peters Basillica in Rome. Building on the Cathedral starting in June 1675 and took a few months over 32 years to complete and cost just under £1.1 million (£147m in todays money, I would suggest still a bargain), although it was not officially declared open by parliament until 1711. (I just have an image of a load of politicians walking around London for 12 years saying "what's that over there?", "no idea")

The cathedral survived despite being targeted during the Blitz - it was struck by bombs on 10 October 1940 and 17 April 1941. On 12 September 1940 a time-delayed bomb that had struck the cathedral was successfully defused and removed by a bomb disposal team , had the bomb detonated, it would have totally destroyed the cathedral, as it left a 100-foot crater when later remotely detonated in a secure location.

On 29 December 1940, the cathedral had another close call when an incendiary bomb became lodged in the lead shell of the dome but fell outwards onto the Stone Gallery and was put out before it could ignite the dome timbers. (It was obviously just not meant to be)

Important services held at St Paul's include the funerals of Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington and Sir Winston Churchill; Jubilee celebrations for Queen Victoria; peace services marking the end of the First and Second World Wars; the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer, the launch of the Festival of Britain and the thanksgiving services for the Golden Jubilee, the 80th Birthday and the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II. It has already been arranged that on her death Margaret Thatcher will have a state funeral at St Pauls Cathedral.

Christopher Wren was the first person to be interred, in 1723: on the wall above his tomb in the crypt is written, "Lector, si monumentum requiris, circumspice" (Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you).

I think that's an appropriate place to end my series, I really that you like it and its been worth the wait, viewing it LARGE is even better

What will I do now???!!!

p.s. Liverpool Cathedral