By Bob Downing
It’s a long climb to the top of the dome at historic St Paul’s Cathedral.
A total of 1,161 steps will take you to the Golden Gallery atop the dome with stunning views across central London. Some say it’s a heavenly trek.
St Paul’s is not England’s national church like Westminster Abbey. It is a busy working cathedral with daily services. Its interior is grand, majestic, opulent and splendorous.
It has seen its share of history. It was the site of state funerals for Admiral Lord Nelson and for the Duke of Wellington, English national heroes. Queen Victoria celebrated her diamond jubilee at the church in 1897. Winston Churchill’s funeral was held there in 1965, and Lady Diana Spencer wed Princes Charles there in 1981.
The major London landmark gets more than 2 million visitors annually.
A cathedral dedicated to St Paul has stood on the current site along the River Thames for more than 1,400 years. The first cathedral was built in 604, founded by King Aethelbert of Kent for missionary monk Mellitus.
After the fourth cathedral was destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666, the current church was designed from 1669 to 1675 by Sir Christopher Wren and built from 1675 to 1711. Its style is English Baroque and it was built of a white Portland limestone. It was financed by a tax of coal and what was spent is equal to $237 million today.
The church was the first to be built after the English Reformation in the 16th century, when Henry VIII removed the Church of England from papal control and the Crown took control.
St Paul’s Cathedral is a very impressive structure atop Ludgate Hill, the highest spot in London. It is the second largest church in the United Kingdom, behind only the Liverpool Cathedral.
It is rich with artwork: sculptures, mosaics, paintings, statues, ornate chapels, crypts and an organ that dates to 1695. The organ was rebuilt several times and is the third largest in the United Kingdom with more than 7,100 pipes.
But the dome is the cathedral’s most well-known and distinctive feature, 365 feet high and weighing about 65,000 tons. It is a triple-layered dome.
The climb will leave you 278 feet above the cathedral floor when you reach the Golden Gallery.
The Whispering Gallery is 30 meters or 98 feet above the main floor. It gets its name because a whisper against the wall can be heard by others on the opposite side of the circular gallery.
From there is a climb of 376 steps via a narrow, stone-walled passage to the Stone Gallery. That is an additional 75 feet above the cathedral floor. Then it is another 528 steps to the Golden Gallery.
The steps are steep and narrow and not for anyone with medical problems, mobility issues or concerns with heights and confined spaces.
The dome is supported by eight arches. Atop the dome is an 850-ton lantern with a ball and cross on the top. It also features frescoes of the life of St Paul painted from 1716 to 1719 by Sir John Thornhill.
The London cathedral is built in the shape of a cross with the dome at the intersection of the two arms above the main altar. That shape is unique among English cathedrals. The high altar is made of marble and carved, gilded oak.
The iconic cathedral was the tallest building in London until 1962 and is surrounded by the spires of other London churches on the city skyline. It survived the German blitz in World War II. The dome today remains among the highest in the world.
It is one of the most photographed landmarks in London. You can shoot the church’s exterior but not the interior.
Mosaics were added in the 19th century after Queen Victoria complained that the interior was dreary and uncolourful.
There is also a lot of history in the cathedral’s crypt, including about 200 burials and monuments.
That includes the tombs of Admiral Lord Nelson from the Battle of Trafalgar who died in 1805 and the Duke of Wellington who defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo and died in 1852. The Duke of Wellington seated on his horse is a prominent monument on the church’s first floor.
The tomb of poet John Donne (1572-1631) survived the 1666 fire. He was the dean of St. Paul’s and the greatest preacher of his day.
Wren’s tomb is in the crypt. He was a noted scientist, astronomer, mathematician and architect. He designed 50 London churches after the Great Fire.
You will also find the crypts of TE Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), polar explorer Capt. Robert Scott, poet Samuel Johnson, inventor Sir Alexander Fleming and landscape painter JMW Turner. There is a monument to nurse Florence Nightingale, although she is buried elsewhere.
The west facade, the main entrance, is marked by two towers. It also features stone images of the conversion of St Paul. William Holman Hunt’s 1900 painting The Light of the World fills the North Transept.
Admission is $28.24 for adults; $24.82 for students and senior citizens; and $12.84 for children 6 to 17. Audio tours are available for free in 11 languages. Guided tours in English are also available. Ticket holders can view the film Oculus: An Eye into St. Paul’s.
For more information, go to www.stpauls.co.uk. You can also call 020-7246-8357.
From the cathedral, it’s an easy walk to the Millennium Bridge, a pedestrian-only bridge across the River Thames. That will take you to the Tate Modern, a favourite art gallery of Londoners, and to William Shakespeare’s re-created Globe Theatre. You will also pass very close to the Borough Market, the largest farmers’ market in England.
The river’s south side promenade to the east leads to another London landmark: the iconic Tower Bridge.
It was built from 1886 to 1894 and takes its name from the nearby Tower of London that dates to the 11th century.
The bridge is a combination bascule-suspension bridge. It consists of two 213-foot towers built on piers and tied together at the upper levels by horizontal walkways that are 110 feet above the bridge roadway, 139 feet above the river. The bridge with approaches is 1,760 feet long.
An elevator will whisk visitors to the top where you can see exhibits and learn of the bridge’s history. The exhibits continue on the pedestrian walkways between the towers.
You can examine the original Victorian steam machinery on land that enables the bridge to raise its deck to allow boat traffic through, something that happens less frequently today.
The bridge is used by 40,000 people per day. It has been open to visitors since 1982.
Tower Bridge is not the old London Bridge, which was sold to American Robert McCulloch and shipped in pieces to Arizona.
Admission is $15.40 for adults, $10.78 for senior citizens and students and $6.67 for children. For information, go to www.towerbridge.org.uk.
For London tourist information, go to www.visitlondon.com. — Akron Beacon Journal/MCT